Fubo to Issue $15 Credit Next Week If NBC Blackout Continues

By Phillip Swann
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Fubo says that it will provide a $15 credit to subscribers next week if the NBC blackout continues. The streamer has been without roughly three dozen paid and free NBC channels since last Friday when the companies could not reach a new carriage pact.

In past carriage blackouts, YouTube TV and DIRECTV required subscribers to request credits through their accounts or an e-mail. However, Fubo will automatically apply the $15 rebate directly to the subscriber’s bill on or after December 1 if the blackout is still in effect then.

“No action is required on your part to receive this credit,” Fubo says at its web site. “An email with additional details was sent to the email address you use with your Fubo account.

The company issued the credit promise after releasing a press release which blamed NBC for the impasse. Fubo said Comcast, which owns the NBC channels, wants it to carry a group of channels that Comcast is spinning off in a separate company called Versant. The streamer said it’s willing to do so for one year but Comcast wants a multi-year arrangement. The Versant channels include MS Now, USA Network, CNBC, Oxygen and others.

Fubo said carrying the Versant channels long-term will make it difficult to offer smaller packages at reduced prices to consumers.

The streamer also charged that Comcast is unwilling to let Fubo include programming from the NBC owned streamer, Peacock, in its lineup, an accommodation provided to other TV services.

“NBCU is discriminating against Fubo and our subscribers. They allowed YouTube TV and Amazon Prime video to integrate Peacock directly into their channel store, but refused to give Fubo the same rights,” Fubo said in the statement. “Fubo’s goal is to make Peacock available directly in our channel store so subscribers can access all of their content in one place and seamlessly pay on one bill.”

NBC told USA Today that it has offered Fubo the same terms it has provided other TV distributors.

“Fubo has chosen to drop NBCUniversal programming despite being offered the same terms agreed to by hundreds of other distributors,” NBC told the publication. “Unfortunately, this is par for the course for Fubo — they’ve dropped numerous networks in recent years at the expense of their customers, who continue to lose content.”

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