Do DIRECTV’s regional sports fees seem a bit arbitrary to you? If so, you’re not alone. The Consumerist reports that the satcaster is charging some subscribers higher fees depending upon their zip codes.
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The regional sports fees are supposed to be based on how many regional sports channels are available in your market; the more channels, the higher the fee. However, according to a DIRECTV web page that allows you to search for your fee by zip code, some subscribers in the same market are being charged different fees.
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The Consumerist was alerted to this odd practice by a DIRECTV customer who provided a map to the web site that shows the different fees by zip code.
“As you can see from this map that she (the DIRECTV customer) put together, DIRECTV charges fees of $0, $2.47, $5.83, and $7.29 depending on ZIP, even though all of these customers get access to the same regional sports,” the Consumerist writes.
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DIRECTV told The Consumerist that regional sports content can vary by zip code, but the site counters that it found that different fees are sometimes being charged in markets where all subscribers are getting the same regional sports channels.
Fierce Cable writes that DIRECTV has said its regional sports page is providing incorrect data and will be taken down temporarily until it’s fixed. However, as of this afternoon, it’s still up.
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The fee mystery comes at a bad time for DIRECTV, and the pay TV industry as a whole. Congressional leaders have blasted rising pay TV bills, particularly add-on fees such as those for regional sports channels and the carriage of local channels, known as broadcast fees.
— Phillip Swann
In Albuquerque and in santa Fe (NM), this inconsistent rsn fee charging is happening. It seems the wealthier zip codes are the ones more likely to pay $5.83 while the poorer zip codes are paying $0.00 for an rsn fee. To add insult to injury, my rsn fee went from $0.00 to $5.83 and that exceeds the 2017 price increase flyer that said my rsn fee would be going up no more than $2.56/month. Albuquerque and Santa Fe all get the same two rsn’s.
I’m almost ready to send my state’s consumer protection Dept a complaint over the overcharge/inconsistent charging. Since I’m almost gone from directv, I won’t see much benefit from any sanctions/refunds but I hope it will lead to directv behaving to my estimate of tens of thousands of customers in my state.
Remember Senator John McCain’s “a la carte” bill back in 2013? Congress needs to pass that and President Trump needs to sign it.
As someone who doesn’t watch any sports (except the Superbowl which I DVR and fast forward through to watch the commercials), it is frustrating for me to find out that I am paying the highest rate in the US.