Comcast sued for alleged overcharges

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit Friday against Comcast Corporation/Xfinity alleging the company is charging customers more than it promised for cable television packages.

The suit also alleges Comcast charged  for unordered equipment and services and failed to deliver prepaid Visa cards promised in its promotions.

“It’s hard to shop for cable television if a company plays hide-the-ball on its true prices, and people shouldn’t have to watch their bills for things they didn’t buy,” Swanson said in a press release.

The lawsuit accuses the company of inventing a number of undisclosed fees to make the monthly price of its cable service look lower to consumers.

The Minnesota suit also alleges that Comcast/Xfinity falsely told some consumers who questioned these extra fees that the fees were out of the company’s control. 

The lawsuit was filed in Hennepin County District Court and seeks restitution, injunctive relief, and civil penalties, according to Minnesota news accounts.

It’s not the first time the cable TV giant has come under fire. In 2017, it entered into a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission for adding unordered services or merchandise to customers’ accounts.

It has also been sued by the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Washington state.

Going forward

A U.S. District Judge’s decision to accept CVS Health’s proposed conditions and allow the acquisition of Aetna to proceed shouldn’t be a major hurdle during a review process, Forbes reported this week.

The judge has said he would essentially allow Aetna to operate independently on key decisions like pricing, hiring employees and products brought to market. That is not far from what CVS and Aetna executives have said as they’ve worked to win over regulators since the merger was first announced about a year ago, according to Forbes.

Cullet talk

Ardagh Group, parent of glass container manufacturing plants in Dunkirk and Winchester, held its third Cullet Conference in The Netherlands in November, according to Glass International.

Cullet, pieces of recycled glass, are an important part of Ardagh’s operations. There are significant savings as well as environmental advantages to producing new glass containers from cullet rather than starting from scratch.

More than 95 percent of Ardagh’s European cullet suppliers took part in the conference.

“Glass is the best packaging option for resource efficiency,” Johan Gorter, chief executive officer of Ardagh Glass, told the conference. “Together we must collect more glass and recycle it into high-quality cullet to be re-used in our furnaces.”

Reducing

McDonald’s announced this month that it plans to reduce the use of antibiotics in its beef supply.

The decision comes in the face of concerns about the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals. 

Some believe overuse has diminished the effectiveness of antibiotics in humans.

McDonald’s becomes the biggest beef buyer to tackle the issue in cattle, potentially creating a new standard for livestock producers and threatening sales by drug companies, Reuters reported.

“McDonald’s iconic position and the fact that they’re the largest single global purchaser of beef make it hugely important,” said David Wallinga, a senior health adviser for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, told the news service.

Honored

Greg Creed, CEO of Yum! Brands, has been honored by the Women’s Foodservice Forum for “his leadership and commitment to driving gender equity, investment in the future of women leaders, and notable impact on the food industry.”

Yum is the parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC.

Expanding

A partnership between Walgreens and Kroger launched in October is being expanded.

The two companies have been testing the idea of putting branded Kroger Express grocery sections inside Walgreens stores.

The pilot program is being expanded to 13 stores in Northern Kentucky, not far from Kroger’s headquarters in Cincinnati.

A Kroger Express is already operating in the Florence, Kentucky, Walgreens location and the remaining 12 stores will be operational "early next year," the companies said.

In addition to selling Kroger-branded products in stores, Walgreens will also allow customers to order online from the grocer and pick up the items at the pharmacy chain, according to a press release.