An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation into advertising claims made by C7 Pty Ltd in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics has resulted in C7 Pty Ltd providing a court-enforceable undertaking.
"In September, C7 made representations to Austar and Foxtel customers that every Australian Olympic basketball game could be seen live on C7's Olympic channels", ACCC Chairman, Professor Fels, said today. "However out of the 16 possible Australian Olympic basketball games C7 showed only six full games live and a further four live games in part. The remaining games (bar one which was shown live on the Seven network) were shown on the C7 Olympic Channels on a delayed basis".
The ACCC believed the representation made by C7 was likely to mislead consumers about the live coverage of Australian Olympic basketball games. The ACCC was concerned that in making the representations, C7 may have breached the fair trading provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
C7 accepts that the representation about the number of live Australian basketball games may have been misleading.
C7 has provided court enforceable undertakings to the ACCC. The undertakings provide that C7 will:
- use it best endeavours to ensure that any future representations in relation to C7's programming are not misleading or deceptive
- provide a refund of $20 to any Austar or Foxtel customer who was mislead by the representation
- implement a trade practices compliance program.
C7 have also agreed to donate $15,000 to Olympic Aid, which is a charity created to raise funds and awareness of refugee children and other children who were in situations of disadvantage during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
"Austar and Foxtel customers who believe they were misled by C7's representation about the coverage of live Australian basketball games at the Olympics should contact C7 on 1800 247 711. This investigation demonstrates the importance of all businesses considering any representations made in their advertising campaigns are truthful".
The ACCC welcomes the approach of C7 in recognising its obligations in advertising and cooperating with the ACCC to ensure affected consumers receive appropriate compensation.