New Delhi: The Delhi High Court was assured by telecom major Airtel on Friday that it will make changes in the on-going advertisements, offering "live and free access" to the IPL coverage.
The telecom service provider said the changes will specify the fact that only the subscription to the match streamed on Hotsar would be free and data charges will apply according to the users' data plan.
The assurance was given before Justice Yogesh Khanna, who was hearing a plea moved by Reliance Jio, a new entrant to the telecom sector, alleging that the commercials of Airtel were "deceptive and misleading".
Jio, represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi and advocate K R Sasriprabhu, claimed the advertisements "falsely proclaim" that Airtel was offering "live and free" access to T20 cricket coverage, and "falsely represent that a subscriber need only obtain a 4G sim from the defendant company and download the Airtel TV app to obtain a virtual season pass i.e live and free access to T20 coverage".
Airtel, represented by senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, contended that Jio was a "jealous competitor" and what it meant by its advertisements was a free subscription to Hotstar.
The commercials "specifically provide that if one intends to watch the game, one has to use data as per the plan taken by him/her", Airtel said.
Airtel in a statement later said, "A frivolous complaint was filed against Airtel's new ad campaign in the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the same. No stay was granted. In fact, the High Court has suggested minor clarifications to the existing disclaimers. After seeing the order we will take appropriate steps. Our ad campaign will continue."
(With inputs from PTI)
(Disclosure: News18.com is part of Network18 Media & Investment Limited which is owned by Reliance Industries Limited that also owns Reliance Jio)
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