Pay-TV Providers To Give Customers Sports Rebates Totaling Over $1B

More than $1B "will soon start to flow back to U.S. pay-TV subscribers in the form of refunds and credits, compensating them for the year's many pandemic-related sports cancellations," according to Moritz & Smith of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Pay-TV providers like AT&T, Verizon and Charter "kept collecting sports-programming fees even as the Covid-19 outbreak canceled sporting events like college basketball tournaments and disrupted pro leagues like the MLB, NBA and NHL." Charter "intends to credit" as much as $218M back to pay-TV customers for "sports-network rebates." Verizon "was the first of the big pay-TV providers to notify customers that repayments were coming in the form of credits on their bills." AT&T said that it "will provide 'courtesy adjustments' to customers who paid for regional sports channels from April to July." Dish Network also said that it "was giving bill credits to affected subscribers, along with free replacement sports coverage" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 12/2).