By Jay Rigdon on

Verizon will be offering affected customers of its Fios TV service a refund credit due to pandemic-canceled games.

From Verizon’s announcement:

Verizon has reiterated its commitment to supporting Fios TV customers who were impacted by the reduction in live sporting events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Verizon worked with Regional Sports Networks who did not broadcast the full slate of live sporting events last season, and secured refunds from them. Verizon today issued the following statement:

“We at Verizon remain resolute in our plan to pass on the COVID-related refunds that we receive from Regional Sports Networks to impacted Fios TV customers. We are pleased to begin issuing bill credits to these customers next month.

Impacted Fios TV customers will see a credit in their December 2020 bill statement labeled as “RSN Credit.” We anticipate that additional refunds may come to Verizon in 2021. Eligible Fios TV customers will be notified when credits from such refunds will be applied to a future bill.

Unlike when Comcast announced a similar measure this summer, there isn’t the complicating factor of Verizon also owning a contingent of those RSNs.

Verizon offered some more information on what customers should expect, and when they should expect it:

  • Verizon is receiving refunds from several Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) for providing a reduced number of live sporting events due to COVID-19. Verizon is passing the refunds on to Fios customers as bill credits.

  • A Regional Sports Network (RSN) is a cable TV channel that broadcasts professional and collegiate sports programming to a local market.

  • You may be eligible if you had a Fios TV package that included one or more RSNs when live sporting events weren’t provided on these RSNs due to COVID-19 and if Verizon received a refund from them.

  • The amount of the credit depends on the region in which you live and whether Verizon received a refund from the RSN(s) in your region.  These credits will be in upcoming bills labeled as “RSN Credit.”

  • We anticipate that additional refunds may come to Verizon in early 2021. If so, we will notify you again to let you know when credits from such refunds will be applied to a future bill.

Subscribers shouldn’t expect a massive rebate, but it’s better than nothing. This also might continue to become more common going forward, especially if the ongoing COVID-19 surge forces leagues like the NBA to cancel more games this winter.

Streaming companies like YouTube TV, meanwhile, simply dropped RSNs like those owned by Sinclair, and it remains to be seen whether they’ll negotiate another deal ahead of the NBA season returning.

[Verizon]

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.

View all posts by Jay Rigdon