Mayweather-McGregor Streaming Glitches Prompt Lawsuit Against Showtime (hollywoodreporter.com)

Customers who paid $99.99 to watch the Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather fight are suing Showtime due to the quality of their stream and buffering issues. From a report via Hollywood Reporter: Portland, Ore., boxing fan Zack Bartel paid to stream the fight in high-definition through the Showtime app but says all he saw was "grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls." Bartel is suing Showtime for unlawful trade practices and unjust enrichment, alleging the network rushed its pay-per-view streaming service to the market without securing the bandwidth necessary to support the scores of cable-cutting fans. The complaint, which is largely composed of screenshots and tweets, is seeking for each member of the class actual damages or $200 in statutory damages, whichever is greater. The proposed class includes Oregon consumers who viewed Showtime's app advertisement on iTunes and paid $99.99 to stream the fight, but were unable to view the fight live on the app "in HD at 1080p resolution and at 60 frames per second, and who experienced ongoing grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls instead." Showtime senior vp sports communications director, Chris DeBlasio, says: "We have received a very limited number of complaints and will issue a full refund for any customer who purchased the event directly from Showtime and were unable to receive the telecast." DeBlasio recommends users contact their cable or satellite provider if they experienced any issues.

Comments

Here in Seattle...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know anyone with a connection fast enough to stream, so they're obviously not taking about us.

I too will now make a foolish purchase

[Presence Eternal]

I'm going to spend a hundred to buy a nice dinner and movie, enjoy a game of mini golf, give a few bucks to charity, and then go on Amazon to buy a miniature violin. Said violin should also prove useful when dealing with people who pay a thousand dollars for an "Ivery(TM)" plastic backscratcher.

Re:I too will now make a foolish purchase

[Krishnoid]

Sorry, read your post too quickly and assumed it was dinner and a movie for *two* people. $100 should be enough, my bad.

Re:I too will now make a foolish purchase

[jmccue]

assumed it was dinner and a movie for *two* people

How can you assume this ? This slashdot, right ?

Dammit, the RIAA was right!

[Opportunist]

Pirates are getting an inferior product. Instead of watching the fight flawlessly, they could have watched it with stutter and get paid for it now!