One would think because of the Coronavirus pandemic, people would more likely be inside spending time watching T.V. Although this seems logical, because many of these people are becoming unemployed, they are more likely to cut cable to save extra money. The FCC has already issued warnings to distributors and local T.V. stations about renewed contracts.
As this crisis ensues, cable operators and programmers have called a temporary truce to set aside questions regarding refunds on undelivered programming, such as the NBA, NHL, Olympics, and many other big television marketing programs.
Distributors agreed to pay programmers a certain amount of money based on the shows the are supposed to deliver. Many sports media channels are the reason consumers pay big bucks too, so a resolution must be brought up.
“CBS is not going to pay for this season and have no financial recourse at all,” Pilson said. “The networks are not paying for games that aren’t delivered. They may have a formula where certain monies change hands and eventually they’ll get credit for that.”
AS the NCAA basketball tournament has been cancelled, the effect chain goes further than professional sports. The colleges that had a contract with programmers that are now diminished as well with the fees.
Professional sports on the other hand, may have a more difficult time with the contracts they had with distributors. Professional sports like, NBA and MLB don’t have clear provisions on how to demand refunds in case of a unavoidable cause. While there are mentions of natural causes such as tornados, hurricanes, or what have you, there is no specifications for pandemics.
NFL is working on renewing TV rights with their partnerships, like ViacomCBS, NBCUniversal, Disney and Fox. While they are most likely to stick with these distributors until 2022, there are programmers who are on the fringe of stealing a partnership. Companies such as Apple, Google, and Amazon are likely competitors.
These distributors payed a lot of money for these games to be broadcasted. NFL and MLB hold a lot of weight, in being able to not refund the broadcasters fully for what they have paid. Streaming service DAZN has informed leagues that it will not pay rights fees for any games that have been suspended. CBS, ESPN, and NBC all have not demanded refunds or threatened to withhold payment for games yet.
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