Mike Flynn
24th June 2002, 06:19
from Sunday Business Post
By Gavin Daly
Dublin, Ireland, 23 June, 2002
Cable television provider NTL has played down concerns it could be exposed to costly litigation from its 370,000 Irish subscribers after a customer won a case against the firm in the Small Claims Court.
Dubliner David Campbell successfully sued NTL for dropping the National Geographic channel from its service.
The court accepted that NTL had broken its contract with Campbell, and awarded him the price of his subscription plus the cost of making the claim. NTL spokesperson Sandra Eaton denied the case could pave the way for claimants who were unhappy with the dropping of the Eurosport and TV5 channels in recent months.
She said there was a "unique feature" to Campbell's case that other possible claimants would not enjoy, but said she could not discuss the case in detail under the terms of the Data Protection Act.
Campbell, who was a customer of Cablelink before it was acquired by NTL, could not be contacted for comment on Friday.
However in a letter to the media, Campbell exhorted other dissatisfied NTL customers to sue the company.
A deluge of claims would be financially damaging for NTL, which has struggled to restructure its debt recently.
Eaton said she did not expect additional claims: "I can confidently state that the case will not open us up to a raft of similar claims."
She said the terms and conditions of every NTL contract gave the firm the authority to change the channel line-up with the exception of certain "must-carry" channels.
However, she confirmed that the company had received written and verbal complaints from customers about the dropping of Eurosport and TV5.
"Some people were greatly annoyed, particularly at the decision to drop Eurosport," she said. She admitted there had been a lack of consultation with customers, but said Eurosport was a "niche channel that was important to certain people".
"We only change our channels on the basis of ongoing market research and we are very mindful of what people are interested in." Eaton said she was not aware of any customers that had cancelled their subscription to NTL because of dissatisfaction with the service.
By Gavin Daly
Dublin, Ireland, 23 June, 2002
Cable television provider NTL has played down concerns it could be exposed to costly litigation from its 370,000 Irish subscribers after a customer won a case against the firm in the Small Claims Court.
Dubliner David Campbell successfully sued NTL for dropping the National Geographic channel from its service.
The court accepted that NTL had broken its contract with Campbell, and awarded him the price of his subscription plus the cost of making the claim. NTL spokesperson Sandra Eaton denied the case could pave the way for claimants who were unhappy with the dropping of the Eurosport and TV5 channels in recent months.
She said there was a "unique feature" to Campbell's case that other possible claimants would not enjoy, but said she could not discuss the case in detail under the terms of the Data Protection Act.
Campbell, who was a customer of Cablelink before it was acquired by NTL, could not be contacted for comment on Friday.
However in a letter to the media, Campbell exhorted other dissatisfied NTL customers to sue the company.
A deluge of claims would be financially damaging for NTL, which has struggled to restructure its debt recently.
Eaton said she did not expect additional claims: "I can confidently state that the case will not open us up to a raft of similar claims."
She said the terms and conditions of every NTL contract gave the firm the authority to change the channel line-up with the exception of certain "must-carry" channels.
However, she confirmed that the company had received written and verbal complaints from customers about the dropping of Eurosport and TV5.
"Some people were greatly annoyed, particularly at the decision to drop Eurosport," she said. She admitted there had been a lack of consultation with customers, but said Eurosport was a "niche channel that was important to certain people".
"We only change our channels on the basis of ongoing market research and we are very mindful of what people are interested in." Eaton said she was not aware of any customers that had cancelled their subscription to NTL because of dissatisfaction with the service.