Television networks CBS and NBC decided to pull three ads by Miller Brewing Co. after a complaint from rival Anheuser-Busch Cos., the two brewers confirmed.

The move came after St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch filed a 26-page complaint with four major networks Nov. 2, saying nine Miller ads aired since the summer are unsubstantiated and misleading.

Two of the three ads to be pulled had a line of people shouting into a megaphone outside Anheuser-Busch that Miller Lite or Miller Genuine Draft had more flavor or more taste than Bud Light and Budweiser.

The ads have been used since late October or early November, according to Milwaukee-based Miller.

The third ad shows a Budweiser delivery person wearing Capri pants entering a bar, which has been airing since mid-October.

CBS said the ads were "disparaging" of Bud Light and Budweiser and that the network would stop running them at the end of the month.

NBC said in a statement the ads were valid but "went beyond the substantiation and communicated taste superiority and/or preference."

Anheuser-Busch said Miller's taste-testing comparing the two brewers' products, on which several Miller ads are based, is flawed and biased.

"We think (the networks) made the right decision because (Miller parent company) SABMiller struggled with telling the truth," said Michael Owens, Anheuser-Busch's vice president of sales and marketing.

But a Miller spokesman said the networks sided with Miller's taste-testing methodology because they did not pull all ads in the past nine months.

"All the ads in question were based on the methodology," said Peter Marino, Miller spokesman.

The two networks also disapproved of two ads that went off the air in the end of July. Other Miller ads will continue to air.

The ad spat is the latest between the nation's two biggest brewers.

In May, a federal judge ordered Anheuser-Busch to pull posters displayed in liquor stores that stated Miller is owned by South African Breweries. Philip Morris sold Miller to South African Brewers PLC in 2002, which formed a new company called SABMiller PLC, based in London.

Anheuser-Busch, the world's biggest brewer, held 50 percent of the U.S. beer market last year. Miller, the world's second-largest brewer by volume, had 18 percent.

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