Showtime Class Action Filed Over Mayweather-McGregor Pay-Per-View

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Showtime was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the quality of the network’s pay-per-view online live stream of the much-hyped Ultimate Fighting Championship match between Mayweather and McGregor was shoddy.

Plaintiff Zach Bartel alleges in his class action lawsuit that Showtime Networks Inc. advertised its nearly $100 pay-per-view online stream as available in 1080p high definition with 60 frames per second.

Instead, viewers were allegedly hit with error messages when they attempted to access the stream. The stream itself lagged, the video was grainy and continued to stall, Bartel says.

“In hopes of maximizing profits, defendant rushed its pay-­per­-view streaming service to market, without securing enough networking bandwidth to support the number of subscribers who paid to watch the fight,” alleges the Showtime class action lawsuit.

Bartel says that he was using up-to-date, top-of-the-line software and hardware and had an appropriate internet connection to support the fight. He points out that he was able to use other streaming services like YouTube and Netflix during the fight. In fact, the Showtime class action lawsuit claims Bartel tested his internet connection and discovered that the issues were entirely due to Showtime’s defective system.

“To his extreme disappointment and frustration, plaintiff (and thousands of other consumers) quickly learned that defendant’s system was defective and unable to stream the Mayweather fight in HD as defendant had advertised,” alleges the Showtime lawsuit. “Instead of being a ‘witness to history’ as defendant had promised, the only thing plaintiff witnessed was grainy video, error screens, buffer events, and stalls.”

The plaintiff claims Showtime wasn’t ready to offer the one-of-a-kind access to the UFC match that allowed consumers to subscribe to the fight without cable for the first time.

“Instead of being upfront with consumers about its new, untested, underpowered service, [Showtime] caused likelihood of confusion and misunderstanding as to the source and quality of the HD video consumers would see on fight night,” the Showtime class action states.

Bartel alleges Showtime deceptively marketed the online streaming service to consumers and was unjustly enriched by the misrepresentation. The plaintiff points out that numerous complaints were posted on social media along with screen shots of error messages and grainy video feeds.

“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 lawsuit claims.

The plaintiff seeks to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who purchased the Showtime Pay-Per-View offering as well as an Oregon subclass. The plaintiff is seeking damages for alleged violations of Oregon consumer law.

Bartel is represented by Michael Fuller and Rex Daines of OlsenDaines PC, Ben Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos and Robert Le and Kelly Jones.

The Showtime Pay-Per-View Class Action Lawsuit is Zach Bartel v. Showtime Networks Inc., Case No. 3:17­cv-­01331, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

UPDATE: On Oct. 3, 2017, Showtime asked a federal panel to consolidate multiple class action lawsuits over its internet streaming of the McGregor-Mayweather fight into a single action in a New York federal court.