Showtime Slammed with Class Action Lawsuit Over Mayweather vs. McGregor Pay-Per-View Problems
Showtime just got done with a huge fight on Saturday night, but it appears the battle is not over yet.
It was revealed on Monday that a class action lawsuit was filed in Oregon against Showtime by customers who were unhappy with streaming issues that caused numerous issues during the pay-per-view broadcast for the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
The lawsuit accuses Showtime of “unlawful trade practices and unjust enrichment” due to the issues existing with the pay-per-view broadcast.
The fight was made available to purchase online through ShowtimePPV.com as well as UFC.tv, but both services were hit with serious outages throughout the event. The main event between Mayweather and McGregor was actually delayed so that issues could be dealt with before the fight began.
The lawsuit filed in Oregon alleges that Showtime was ill prepared for the pay-per-view broadcast to air online and the result was “grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls.”
“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,” attorney Michael Fuller said in the complaint that was filed with the Oregon federal court.
“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.”
The defendants in the class action lawsuit, as first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, are seeking actual damages or $200 in statutory damages, whichever is greater. The fight cost $99.99 for the high definition broadcast via cable, satellite, and online providers.
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The lawsuit is also being represented by the law firm of Geragos and Geragos, who have worked with numerous celebrity clients in the past including Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder, and Chris Brown.
Showtime has not released a statement yet regarding the lawsuit, but unhappy customers were directed back to the point of purchase on Saturday night for any potential refunds due to the problems with the pay-per-view broadcast.
