DirecTV to Offer Customers Credit for MLB Extra Innings and MLS Direct Kick Out-of-Market Packages
With COVID-19 shutting down all major sports leagues, the question of whether or not pay-TV subscribers who signed up for sports packages should still pay has been a hot topic. It now looks like DirecTV is beginning to resolve some of these issues for their customers. According to Multichannel, parent company AT&T stated that any rebates they get from programmers will go towards crediting customers.
“With the professional baseball and soccer seasons postponed or suspended, our customers who subscribed to MLB Extra Innings and MLS Direct Kick will receive credits for any payments already made toward their subscription and we have postponed future charges until we learn more from the leagues,” the company said in statement. “We continue to monitor the situation closely and are in contact with programmers and sports leagues as they plan their next steps. Any rebates we receive from programmers and sports leagues will be provided to our customers.”
For those who wish to cancel their subscriptions once games resume under social distancing guidelines, the company is giving customers the option to cancel subscriptions two weeks into those sports return.
Back in April, AT&T was one of the companies named in a letter from New York Attorney General Letitia James, urging cable companies to give their customer a break from fees attributed to live sports programming. In letters addressed to Altice USA, AT&T Inc., Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, DISH Network, RCN Corporation and Verizon Communications, James requested that the companies put forth plans indicating how they will provide financial relief to consumers until live sports programming picks up again.
Cable and satellite customers pay up to $20 per month is additional fees for sporting packages. However, since the lockdowns, cable companies continued to collect fees despite the fact that many games were canceled starting in March.
In her letters, James asked providers to find ways to “appropriate refunds, discounts and reductions of charges and fees, payment deferrals, and waiver of termination fees, at least until live sports programming is resumed.”