With the NFL season fast approaching, some Spectrum cable customers are facing the loss of NFL Network and NFL RedZone.
Not because of a carriage dispute or a package change, but because according to Spectrum, they shouldn’t have been receiving those networks all along.
Tim Burke (AKA invaluable video resource @bubbaprog) posted the letter he received from Spectrum on Twitter, in which Spectrum claims that a “routine review” found that Burke had been receiving NFL Network for years thanks to some sort of clerical or technical error.
After nine years Spectrum has concluded that I shouldn’t have been receiving NFL Network this whole time? pic.twitter.com/lGAfvf23BW
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 28, 2021
Ah, the ol’ nine-year incorrect authorization!
A quick Twitter search turned up a few more people who received similar notices, and they were also not thrilled about it, as you’d expect:
It takes big cojones to then turn around and offer to sell me the sports pack. @GetSpectrum my cable bill is $271.84 and if you think I am crazy enough to add the Sports Package you do not know me.
— Proud Democrat USAF Senior NCO Retired (@NoMalarkeyFL) August 26, 2021
@GetSpectrum Wow. Spectrum is taking away NFL Network because they say that we shouldn't be getting it, although we've been getting it since we signed up 3 years ago. First NFL RedZone, now NFL Network. I will now be shopping for a new service.
— Packdan88 (@packdan88) August 25, 2021
Presumably there are more people in a similar boat here too, including some folks who maybe don’t open mail from their cable company who will be very surprised in a couple of weeks when they try to watch NFL coverage.
Spectrum, via their customer service Twitter, is responding by pointing customers to the premium sports tier mentioned in the letter:
Both channels are available in our Spectrum Sports Package. https://t.co/NdNbfZRhGm ^PS
— Ask Spectrum (@Ask_Spectrum) August 25, 2021
It’s, let’s just say, interesting that a “routine review” would take place just before football season, and that it would turn up unauthorized channels for customers who have had them for years. (How routine can that review be?)
In any case, for at least some of the affected customers, any potential changes have yet to go into effect:
i have NFL Network on right now, watching the Packers-Bills preseason game, so they haven't even "turned it off" if I weren't supposed to be receiving it anyway
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 28, 2021
So, hey, maybe the letter itself was incorrectly authorized!
