GTE Corp.’s General Telephone of Florida unit...

GTE Corp.’s General Telephone of Florida unit denied charges by Home Shopping Network that its poor phone service cost the video shopping pioneer at least $500 million. “The accusations by HSN are erroneous and without merit,” the company said in a statement. Clearwater, Fla.-based HSN has filed a $1.5-billion lawsuit against GTE, the nation’s largest independent telecommunications company, and its Florida unit, alleging that it lost millions of customer calls and more than $500 million because of alleged poor service and faulty telephone switching equipment installed by GTE.