Basically, at the time, DirecTV was running print ads for its 12-month fixed-rate promotional plan, and the FTC feels the company wasn’t very clear about a two-year contract being required, or that multiple rate hikes and early cancellation fees were a possibility.
Further, the FTC claims the company’s website makes relevant fine print hard to access, according to Law 360, and Snow says that the company made $3.95 billion through such advertising tricks.
The FTC’s attorney Jacob A. Snow alleges that no less than 33 customers signed up for DirecTV service between 2007-2015 and entered into a contract under pretenses they were unaware of.
It’s not every day that numbers that high are thrown around, even in court where most litigants ask for huge amounts of money, but that’s what happened in Oakland’s U.S. District Court during the ongoing case between the FTC and the cable giant.