DirecTV, the nation’s largest satellite television provider, is being investigated by 20 state attorneys general for removing some channels from a presold package of programming and selling them at a higher price.
The multistate group is looking into whether the General Motors Corp. unit pulled a “bait and switch” on its subscribers when it removed seven Encore movie channels from its most-popular package of programming and added them to a more-expensive pack, state officials said.
The change may violate state consumer-protection laws prohibiting deceptive and unfair practices, since subscribers had paid for the programming and the special satellite dish as part of a binding contract, state officials said.
The investigation comes as satellite operators are cutting prices to woo subscribers.
