Tennis Channel Class Action: Fans Can’t Watch All Purchased Matches

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The Tennis Channel has been hit with a class action lawsuit claiming that consumers can’t watch all purchased matches.

Plaintiff Alex Wilson alleges that The Tennis Channel Inc. deceptively markets its services by claiming that if consumers purchase access to the company’s Tennis Channel Plus, they will receive access to live content, when, in fact, it does not provide live access to many advertised matches.

Wilson seeks damages on behalf of himself and all similarly affected consumers, claiming that that company put forth false and misleading advertising, and received unjust enrichment from this business practice, and that he suffered financial injury from the company’s actions.

According to the Tennis Channel false advertising class action lawsuit, Tennis Channel Plus is a subscription service that costs $89.99 annually, and has been available since May 2014.

Purchasing a subscription to Tennis Channel Plus allegedly gives consumers access to “all of the Tennis Channel Plus content,” and the company claims that a subscription gives subscribers “access to hundreds of hours of live tennis throughout the year included ATP World Tour, WTA, Davis Cup, Fed Cup, and much more.”

Despite this advertisement, Wilson allegedly attempted to watch certain advertised live matches and was unable to view them. In some cases, he was later able to watch the matches through Tennis Channel Plus after they had been recorded, but in other cases, was unable to watch the matches at all.

Wilson claims that this was in direct conflict with the company’s statement that with a Tennis Channel Plus subscription, consumers would have access to all of the normal Tennis Channel programming, plus additional matches.

According to Wilson, he and many other consumers were unable to watch a highly-anticipated Roger Federer match at the Australian open, though the Tennis Channel Plus advertising specifically noted that access to the Federer match was a feature of Tennis Channel Plus programming.

The advertising stated that “This [programming] expansion couldn’t come at a more exciting time…You can watch every round of Federer’s quest for No. 1 live on Tennis Channel Plus this week.” However, Wilson claims that he was unable to access live streaming of the match.

The Tennis Channel class action lawsuit says that Wilson contacted the company’s customer support via live chat and the the company claimed that the match would not be available to Tennis Channel Plus customers, stating that the match was only available on the Tennis Channel. According to Wilson, this contradicted the company’s claim that Tennis Plus subscribers had access to both Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel Plus programming.

Wilson states that he asked for a refund because what he received as a Tennis Channel Plus subscriber was not what he was sold. He goes on to state that the customer service representative denied his request for a refund.

Allegedly, many other consumers had the same experience – the Tennis Channel class action lawsuit provides transcripts of consumers’ live chats with The Tennis Channel customer support representatives to bolster this claim.

The plaintiff is represented by Kolin C. Tang and James C. Shah of Shepherd Finkelman Miller & Shah LLP and Adam J. Levitt and Amy E. Keller of DiCello Levitt and Casey.

The Tennis Channel Plus False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Alex Wilson v. The Tennis Channel Inc., Case No. 2:18-cv-03473-SWV-AFM, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.