AT&T strikes out T-Mobile over MLB promo

AT&T has a history of complaining about T-Mobile to the National Advertising Division (NAD). The NAD is the advertising industry’s self-regulatory body and is part of the Better Business Bureau (BBB). In March 2021, we told you how AT&T complained about T-Mobile’s ads that called it “the best” 5G network and offered “the best” 5G pricing. T-Mobile also was asked to change its claim that it had the “most reliable 5G network.”

• “T-Mobile will build America’s largest . . . 5G network.”
• “T-Mobile’s 5G network will have “more towers, more engineers, and more coverage” than the 5G networks of T-Mobile’s competitors….”
• “T-Mobile’s 5G network ‘will deliver unprecedented reach’….”

What the NAD did object to was telling advertisers that some of the benefits they would see as a result of the merger with Sprint would take place immediately.

The issue is that T-Mobile did not specify that the games available for viewing are considered “out of market” games. For example, those living in New York City would be unable to use the T-Mobile Tuesdays app to catch live Yankees or Mets games (although, let’s face it, who the hell in NYC would want to watch either team this year?). While T-Mobile did voluntarily modify the line during the proceeding to read, “enjoy every 2023 out-of-market, regular season game live or on demand,” the carrier would not commit to doing so on future iterations of the ad.

The NAD concluded that “the challenged claim reasonably conveys a message that T-Mobile customers will be able to watch all regular season games live, whether they are nationally televised games, in-market games, or out-of-market games…such a message is not supported because, while all games that have been played already are available for viewing on demand, all games are not available live.” The NAD also said that T-Mobile’s disclaimer that says, “blackouts and other restrictions apply” does not cover the challenged claim.