Comcast Hidden Fees: Subscribers' Class-Action Lawsuit Moves Forward
A class-action lawsuit filed against Comcast over its practice of charging “hidden fees” to cable subscribers can continue to move forward after a federal judge rejected a motion from the telecommunications giant to dismiss the complaint.
The lawsuit, initially filed in the United States District Court in Northern California in October 2016, claims Comcast falsely advertised the prices of its cable TV services and failed to disclose additional fees that resulted in higher monthly costs.
Read: DirecTV Regional Sports Fees: AT&T Admits To Wrong Prices, Will Issue Credits To Customers
The fees in question are the “Broadcast TV Fee” and “Regional Sports Fee.” Neither are included in the advertised prices offered to customers but both are added to the monthly bill of Comcast subscribers. The fees are designed to cover the cost of carrying local cable channels and broadcast rights for local sports teams in a given area.
The fees were initially relatively small when first introduced. The Broadcast TV fee added $1.50 to the monthly bill when it was introduced in 2014, while the Regional Sports fee added $1 per month when it started in 2015.
Those fees have only risen over time, going from a barely noticeable charge to an addition that costs consumers more than $130 per year. The Broadcast TV fee has increased to $6.50 per month and the Regional Sports fee now runs $4.50 per month.
In December 2016, Comcast announced its intention to raise the fees up to $7 per month for the Broadcast TV fee and $5 per month for the Regional Sports fee, which would result in $144 extra paid by Comcast customers per year in costs that are not advertised.
Read: Comcast Increases Broadcast TV And Regional Sports Fees In 2017
According to Comcast, the additional fees tacked onto the bill aren’t just not advertised by the telecommunications giant—the company also actively lies about why it charges its customers for them, blaming the government for the fees.
"Comcast staff and agents explicitly lie by stating that the Broadcast TV Fee and the Regional Sports Fee are government-related fees or taxes over which Comcast has no control," the complaint said.
Comcast attempted to argue the fees were agreed to when the customer consented to the company’s Subscriber Agreement and Minimum Term Agreement. On those grounds, the company asked for the class-action lawsuit to be dismissed.
U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria took issue with Comcast's reasoning and rejected the request. According to Chhabria, the class-action plaintiffs still have plausible claims despite consenting to the company’s agreements.
“It is plausible to infer from the complaint that, by clicking ‘Submit Your Order," [the plaintiffs] agreed to pay Comcast's advertised price, plus taxes and government-related fees, in exchange for the services Comcast offered them,” Chhabria wrote.
“It is also plausible to infer from the complaint that Comcast breached its agreements with the plaintiffs when it sent them bills charging them Broadcast TV and/or Regional Sports Fees (alleged to be neither taxes nor government-related fees) in excess of the agreed-upon price, and when it subsequently sought to raise the amount of the fees.”
Comcast is not the first telecommunications company to come under fire for this practice. A similar charge of excessive fees has also been levied against Charter. Earlier this year AT&T came under fire for applying its fees in a seemingly arbitrary way and changed its process for applying regional fees.
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