Sports was one of many things this past year that has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. From the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, to The Championships Wimbledon and college football; games were cancelled and postponed indefinitely left and right.To keep players safe and healthy, it’s led to mass cancellations of games in nearly every sport at both the collegiate and professional level was necessary.
That left fans without their favorite sports and out of a good chunk of cash over something no one could possibly foresee or control. If you’re a TV subscriber who bought a sports package this year, but didn’t get to watch much because of the coronavirus pandemic, you may be entitled to a refund. Major TV providers are handing out refunds as they start coming in. Your refund should have already shown up on your bill. You can expect to find approximately $20 in the form of a bill credit.
For DISH Network Customers, You’ll Receive Credits & Replacement Programming
By now, impacted DISH Network customers have received a RSN bill credit and replacement sports programming at no extra cost to their customers. The amount refunded may vary, but DISH announced that they have returned more through bill credits and replacement programs in comparison to the refunds DISH received through content providers.
For DirecTV (& AT&T) Customers, You’ll Receive Bill Credits
Impacted DirecTV and AT&T Fiber TV customers already received bill credits compensating their customers that purchased MLS Direct Kick and MLB Extra Innings channels for the 2020 seasons. After that your eligibility varies because the company paused charges until they received more information from content networks and sports leagues.
For Charter Spectrum Customers, You’ll Receive A Bill Credit
Most Charter Spectrum customers who subscribed to a Spectrum TV package in 2020 should have already received a refund as a bill credit on their February 2021 bill to the tune of a lousy $17.73. If you’re a Spectrum TV Essentials subscriber, don’t get too excited, you won’t receive any sort of bill credit because your TV package does not include sports programming therefore there’s nothing to refund upon.
For Verizon Fios Customers, You’ll Receive A Bill Credit
Impacted Verizon Fios TV customers should have already seen their refund in the form of a bill credit labelled as ‘RSN Credit’ on their billing statement. To have received this refund, there’s no extra action required by customers to receive it.
For Comcast Xfinity Customers, You’ll Receive Credit Adjustments
Eligible Comcast Xfinity customers have already received courtesy credit adjustments on their bill. The amount varied but Comcast Xfinity promised 100% of the refunds received has been passed onto their customers. To figure out if you were eligible, you would’ve paid the “Regional Sports Network Fee” that you can find on a past bill.
You might be wondering why major TV providers are offering relief. It’s because they were asked to provide some sort of relief either by decreasing future charges or taking away charges from live sports programming by the New York Attorney General Letitia James. Seven major providers including DISH Network, DirecTV (AT&T), Altice USA, Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, RCN and Verizon Fios were all asked to step up and relieve their customers’ wallets as soon as they can.