A subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.’s cable division sued DirecTV Group Inc. Thursday, claiming the El Segundo-based satellite TV provider engaged in false advertising about the NFL Network.

Time Warner Cable Inc. said DirecTV ads claim professional football games shown on the NFL Network wouldn’t be available to home-team viewers unless they had DirecTV.

Time Warner contests that the local market games are shown on KNBC or KABC, making the claims false.

Time Warner also said that DirecTV published ads in publications in cities like New York, Cincinnati and Green Bay, Wis., asking customers to cancel cable and buy a satellite dish because those markets could not watch NFL Network. DirecTV joined with the NFL Network about two months ago to set up a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign aimed at football fans.

The NFL Network, available on DirecTV, and Englewood Colo.-based Echostar Communication Corp.’s Dish Network, currently is carried by Time Warner, Cablevision Systems Corp. and other cable TV companies due to an ongoing feud over which cable tier to place the network in. The NFL Network wants to be part of a basic subscription while the cable companies want to move it to a premium tier.

The complaint was filed in a Manhattan federal court.

This suit comes a day after news of multi-billion stock swap deal between News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and LibertyMedia Corp.’s Chairman John Malone, that would give Malone ownership of Murdoch’s stake in DirecTV Group Inc. in turn for Malone’s 19 percent share in New Corp.

Shares in DirecTV were up 57 cents to 24.17 in early trading Friday.