Showtime was hit with a class-action lawsuit following the Mayweather-McGregor fight on Saturday night.
Customers who claim they had streaming issues throughout the fight filed the lawsuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Portland boxing fan Zack Bartel paid $99 to watch the fight on the Showtime app, however all he saw was “grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls.”
Bartel, who is seeking monetary damages for the situation, is suing Showtime for its unlawful trade practices and unjust enrichment, claiming the network rushed the streaming service without securing enough bandwidth to support the amount of viewers it received.
“Instead of being upfront with consumers about its new, untested, underpowered service, defendant caused likelihood of confusion and misunderstanding as to the source and quality of the HD video consumers would see on fight night,” writes his attorney, Michael Fuller, in the complaint. “Defendant intentionally misrepresented the quality and grade of video consumers would see using its app, and knowingly failed to disclose that its system was defective with respect to the amount of bandwidth available, and that defendant’s service would materially fail to conform to the quality of HD video defendant promised.”
Showtime announced that it would be providing refunds to customers who were affected by the technical glitches, Variety reports. However, the viewers must provide evidence to show they were unable to watch the pay-per-view event.
“We have received very limited number of complaints overall,” said Chris DeBlasio, senior VP of communications for Showtime Sports. “We are reviewing all of them carefully and will respond to them accordingly.”
The network will issue a $99.99 refund to the customers who purchased the PPV access in HD through Showtime’s own direct-to-consumer services.
If the customers purchased the event through a different distributor, such as UFC’s Fight Pass or through a cable/satellite TV operator, they will need to request a refund directly from the specific provider.
Photo Credit: Getty / Stephen McCarthy
