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Verizon sued over Fios TV numbers

An advertising company in New York claims that Verizon has inflated the number of Fios TV subscribers it has to charge more for advertising rates.

Marguerite Reardon Former senior reporter
Marguerite Reardon started as a CNET News reporter in 2004, covering cellphone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate and the consolidation of the phone companies.
Marguerite Reardon
2 min read

The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Verizon Communications is being sued by a TV advertiser for overstating the number of customers the company has signed up for its Fios TV service.

Digital Art Services, a media and advertising buying company based in Great River, N.Y., said in its lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, that Verizon fraudulently inflated the number of people signed up for the Fios TV service.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Verizon included pending customers when it reported total number of subscribers in the New York region, The Wall Street Journal story said. Digital Art Services buys advertising for clients and is claiming that it had to pay more than it should have for advertising on Verizon's Fios TV service as result of these figures.

Eric Rabe, a Verizon spokesman, said that Digital Art Services' claims are unfounded.

"Any assertion that we are being dishonest or inflating numbers is wrong," Rabe said. "Verizon doesn't do that. And people who have dealt with us know that."

Rabe, who hasn't yet seen the lawsuit, added that he thinks the lawsuit is simply a ploy to get out of a contract that Digital Art Services has signed with Verizon to buy a certain amount of advertising on the Fios TV network.

"They want out of the contract," he said. "We think they should fulfill the agreement. So they have filed this lawsuit to pressure us to let them out of the contract."