Reliance Jio moves SC in appeal against order on Airtel’s tweak of ‘T20 Live and Free’ ad
Reliance Jio's battle with rival Bharti Airtel over the latter's 'T20 Live and Free' advertisement campaign is set for hearing in the Supreme Court on 18 May
The dispute revolves around Airtel's ongoing 'T20 Live and Free' ad campaign in TV, print and outdoor media, promising live and free coverage of the IPL cricket matches on its network. Photo: Mint
New Delhi: Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd's battle with rival Bharti Airtel Ltd over the latter's 'T20 Live and Free' advertisement campaign is now in the Supreme Court.
The Mukesh Ambani-owned company on Monday challenged in the apex court a 10 May order by a Delhi High Court division bench, that gave a partial breather to Airtel over its disputed campaign.
The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who posted it for hearing on 18 May.
The dispute revolves around Airtel's ongoing 'T20 Live and Free' advertising campaign in television, print and outdoor media, promising live and free coverage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches on its network. In reality, the offer is a free subscription to watch the cricket matches on the Hotstar app.
Reliance Jio moved the Delhi High Court on 13 April, complaining the advertisement was misleading and deceptive as it failed to inform consumers about the hidden cost of data usage. Airtel said its ads indeed mention that “data consumption will be charged as per the existing plan”.
On 2 May, a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court asked Airtel to make the disclaimer in a bigger type size, across ads in print, TV and in outdoor hoardings. For television and video ads, the judge asked Airtel to start its disclaimer “from the word the girl in the advertisement says ‘seasonal pass....’, in sync with the voice over.”
Airtel contested this order before a larger division bench of the high court, which ordered that the bigger type sizes need to be carried only in print ads, and not in videos or hoardings. Now, Reliance Jio has contested that order in the Supreme Court.
0 comments: