FTC Seeks Partial Summary Judgment in DirecTV ROSCA Litigation

The Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act mandates material contractual terms be displayed clearly, making the U.S. District Court in San Francisco well within its rights to decide on the clarity and conspicuousness of DirecTV's website disclosures based on a review of the site, the FTC said Thursday in a motion (in Pacer) for partial summary judgment on its claims under ROSCA and on DirecTV's affirmative defenses. The agency is suing the direct broadcast satellite company for allegedly not properly communicating early cancellation fee terms to subscribers (see 1503110042). The FTC motion said it's clear DirecTV failed to disclose the material terms of its premium channel negative option in a conspicuous fashion. It also said the claim behind DirecTV's affirmative defense claims is that the company invited the FTC to resolve its investigation by joining a settlement negotiation with several states also pursuing similar claims against it, but the agency opted not to and then years later "sprung to sue DirecTV for that very same conduct covered in those multistate settlement terms." But the FTC said DirecTV's only basis for those claims is "unsupported conjecture and conclusory opinions" and it was never earnestly invited into the multistate settlement negotiations. It said there's no evidence of affirmative misconduct or unreasonable delay on the agency's part that would then be the basis of the affirmative defenses. AT&T, which now owns DirecTV, didn't comment Friday.