The second largest provider is Verizon with a market share of nearly 20%. It still charges an even higher regional sports fee of $8.89 per month. When asked why, Verizon said it is asking programmers like NESN and NBC Sports Boston and professional sports leagues to work with us to develop a solution that will relieve customers until live sports return to TV. James` office sent letters to Altice USA, AT&T Inc., Charter Communications CHTR, Comcast Cable, DISH Network, RNC Corporation and Verizon Corporation urging companies to immediately prepare and present plans on how they will provide financial assistance to customers until the live sports program resumes. Comcast says no refunds will be made, while the professional sports leagues it carries are still undecided on what to do with their suspended seasons. „Customers rightly do not understand why they continue to pay the higher fees that are due to live sports,“ the letter states. „Sports channels that only broadcast reruns and simulations of sports video games, as is common now, are not what customers expected. It is unfair and inappropriate to require consumers to continue to pay the same amount for spectrum for a service for which they have contracted. In addition, it would be unfair and inappropriate to charge a cancellation fee to customers if they wish to cancel the service due to economic hardship or because essential programs have been cancelled.
Comcast introduced it years ago to show subscribers how much of their bills went to sports. Pay-TV companies are under increasing pressure to make more money, and fees are one way to do just that. However, the fees were not transparent enough and the lawsuit alleges that Comcast misrepresents its customers by charging them fees that do not match the savings they make. The next World Cup games are also expected to air on the Comcast network, but no matches are currently scheduled. Many consumers do not realize the true cost of these services and often owe more than they expected. That is why action is needed. If Comcast doesn`t, consumers will be forced to pay more than they originally agreed. It is illegal. Mass arbitration was necessary, Hattis said, because the lawsuit „had to be filed as an individual public injunction — to get Cox to change its practices — based on the legal and binding arbitration clause of Cox`s residential service agreement.“ This sounds a lot like Comcast`s statement. And both miss the point.
Consumers pay their money to Comcast and Verizon, not NESN, NBC Sports Boston or professional sports leagues. According to Consumer Reports, regional sports supplements can increase a household`s cable or satellite TV bill by $7 to $12 per month. In New York, it can reach $20 per month, pushing the cost of even basic cables well beyond the advertised low price. During the pandemic, other companies have proven their customers right. Auto insurers facing a drop in claims because fewer people drive will reimburse their customers for at least April and May — the same two months covered by „regional sports expenses.“ If you read the fine print on your cable or satellite TV bill, you`ll see a plethora of fees and surcharges on top of the base cost of your plan. Among the most powerful is the „regional sports surcharge,“ which funnels the money of subscribers to the various sports leagues through sports-related networks that hold the rights to broadcast live of these events. It is not a government tax or a regulatory fee. It is the cable company that passes on one of its costs to its customers to pay for content, which remains one of the main reasons why people keep the cables instead of cutting the cable.
When asked, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey`s office said it had received complaints from consumers about cable TV sports fees. There was an $8.75 royalty on the front page for „regional sport.“ Yet it`s been almost two months since professional sports were shut down due to the pandemic, and without games, there was no live broadcast, no „regional sports.“ „Mass arbitration is the logical outcome of the legal positions that the Corporate Defence Chamber has taken for decades, as its members received an ever-increasing interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act. on the grounds that a large number of aggrieved consumers could still file a large number of individual arbitration claims,“ Hattis said. How can I get rid of this regional sports fee? I don`t watch sports. The lawsuit alleges that Comcast has been collecting the regional sports fee from its subscribers for several years. Although the company has offered loans to its customers, the lawsuit claims that the loans do not match cost savings. The complainants allege that the loans are not sufficient to offset the higher costs. And while the lawsuit will likely lead to more expensive TV services, consumers still need to question whether these companies are ethical. This is a common practice, as sport is the largest contributor to the total cost of pay TV undertakings. The regional sports fee has been the main target of a lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs, who claim that the credits do not adequately reflect the cost savings they have achieved through higher prices. The lawsuits allege that the companies are not only stealing from consumers, but are also committing massive billing fraud.
And it`s not that Comcast doesn`t need good PR. Many subscribers are already angry because they`re tricked into paying for sports they don`t even watch because Comcast packs its „deals.“ For them, continuing to pay during the pandemic only adds to the frustration, especially since regional sports fees have risen from $1 to $8.75 per month in five years. A staggering increase of 775 percent. Comcast`s regional sports fee is a controversial new service that is prompting complaints among consumers. Until recently, the company charged its customers a flat rate for local sports. However, fees have risen steadily over the past five years, from $1.00 to $8.75 per month in some markets. Now, the company has started charging its customers regional sports subscription fees of up to 350% – an astonishing increase. The lawsuit against Comcast`s regional sports fees was filed after the company began charging customers for local sports. The company had already created the regional sports fee a few years ago, but was not popular with consumers.
Initially, the company offered loans to customers that did not match the costs saved. But after it turned out that the fees mentioned at the regional level were not enough, the lawsuit against the cable giant was dropped. A Cox spokesperson declined to comment on the arbitration today, saying they had not yet seen the filings. We also asked Cox if she was still charging new customers for TV and regional sports fees and got no response. Cox and other cable carriers submitted that their licence fees cover the amounts they pay for the retransmission of broadcast signals, and that regional sports royalties cover the amounts they pay to regional sports networks that broadcast the games of local sports teams in each market. According to Mr. Cox, the „broadcasting surcharge reflects the increased costs associated with delivering television stations to our customers“ and that the „regional sports surcharge reflects some of the costs associated with providing regional sports networks to our customers, which vary by market.“ Today, New York State Attorney General Letitia James asked seven major cable and satellite service providers to reduce or eliminate those fees as long as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps sports on the sidelines. „Despite the fact that all live sporting events in the U.S. have been cancelled, cable and satellite television providers continue to charge high fees for live sports programming and refuse to reduce the cost of packages that typically include live sports programming,“ James said in a statement posted on the attorney general`s website April 29.
Hattis recruits individuals for other arbitration requests through this website, which states, „If you are a current or former Cox Cable TV customer, you may be eligible for an additional monthly fee.“ The site says Cox`s broadcast and regional sports fee is $19 and $12.50 per month, respectively, and the site includes a form that potential applicants can fill out and submit. The representative arbitrations submitted by Hattis state: „Cox announced and quoted to the plaintiff that broadcast and/or local sports channels would be included in the advertised price of the cable television package, even though Cox did charge the plaintiff additional service charges for those channels through additional service charges hidden on the bill, which Cox calls the „broadcasting surcharge“ and the „regional sports surcharge.“ „Cox never adequately disclosed these extras“ or that the actual monthly price of Cox`s cable television package would be higher than what Cox advertised and offered“ and „never reasonably disclosed that the price of the allegedly `guaranteed` service would be secretly increased by increases in the so-called surcharges in the middle of a promised promotional or contractual `guaranteed` fixed price period.“ it reads.
