Sprint has taken out advertisements in a number of major newspapers, protesting AT&T’s refusal to sell ad space on DirecTV for a special Sprint wireless deal targeting DirecTV customers.
Sprint claims AT&T and DirecTV aren’t allowing it to buy advertisements on DirecTV that target DirecTV customers with an offer for one year of unlimited voice, text messages and 2 gigabytes of data for free on up to five lines, plus a new smartphone through one of Sprint’s device upgrade programs. Sprint came out with the offer in late August shortly after the AT&T/DirecTV deal was finalized, and last week added more data bucket options. The deal is set to end Sept. 30.
“Through our media agency, we have made repeated attempts to buy DirecTV controlled advertising inventory. We are surprised and disappointed that we have been flatly rejected,” Sprint CMO Kevin Crull wrote in a published letter to Randall Stephenson of AT&T and John Stankey of DirecTV. “Furthermore, we’ve sent repeated requests for an explanation to your head of sales, but we’ve heard nothing in return.”
Sprint spokeswoman Roni Singleton said that since Sprint put together the offer for DirecTV customers, it has been trying to advertise to them directly via DirecTV, but has been blocked from doing so. She confirmed that Sprint has advertised with DirecTV in the past for other offers.
“We just want DirecTV and AT&T to not be afraid of a little fair competition,” Singleton said. “We feel like customers should have a choice, and that means, for us, making sure that they have access to information on every carrier so they can make the decision.”
Contacted for comment, an AT&T representative responded that, “It’s another Sprint marketing gimmick for a misleading offer.”
AT&T has been mining the DirecTV customer base to benefit its wireless services as well, since the $48.5 billion deal was approved in late July. In August, AT&T began offering a $300 bill credit for each line that DirecTV and AT&T U-verse TV customers ported over the company’s wireless service, plus another $200 credit if they traded in an eligible smartphone.
