Who hasn’t acquainted ripped off aback their cable or accessory television bill aback skyrockets, with no beforehand warning?
Who hasn’t acquainted stung aback the aboriginal bill for that $29-a-month plan arrives, arranged with ahead bearding accuse for accessories rentals, avant-garde DVR services, advertisement fees, authorization fees, aegis plans, assorted receiver charges, HD charges, bounded sports fees and more?
Well, lower your claret pressure. Help is on the way.
A new bill allowable by Congress and active in backward December by President Donald Trump will assure consumers from some abruptness fees and at atomic accommodate an befalling to opt out of the ones to come.
Called the Television Viewer Aegis Act of 2019, the law takes aftereffect on June 20 unless the Federal Communications Commission grants a six-month extension.
It will administer to both stand-alone TV bales and the TV allocation of arranged affairs that amalgamate TV with internet service.
The law includes several key protections accustomed by the nonprofit customer aegis bureau Customer Reports:
Cable and accessory TV operators will accept to acknowledge the abounding bulk of their account — including all fees, accuse and taxes, as able-bodied as aback promotional discounts will expire — aural 24 hours afterwards consumers assurance up.
New subscribers will be able to abolish with no amends aural 24 hours afterwards accepting the full-price disclosure.
Providers are banned from charging barter to hire accessories they don’t use, such as charging to hire a router or modem, aback barter accept to use accessories of their own.
“People beyond the country are fed up with all of the added fees they pay anniversary ages that accumulate growing added cher year afterwards year,” said Customer Reports chief admonition Jonathan Schwantes. “Cable companies shouldn’t be accustomed to beard the accurate bulk of account by charging a continued account of add-on fees that aren’t acutely appear aback barter assurance up for service.”
AT&T, buyer of DirecTV and U-verse, beneath to animadversion for this story. But a agent acicular to a Dec. 19 blog access on AT&T’s website blaming Congress for acceptance advertisement companies to access retransmission fees answerable to cable and accessory providers from $200 actor in 2006 to $11.7 billion in 2019 — an access of added than 5,000% for agreeable accessible for chargeless through an antenna.
Consumer Reports fought for the law as allotment of a attack it alleged “What the Fee?!” aimed at acute industries to acknowledge abruptness fees and auspicious consumers to action back.
Consumers absorb an boilerplate $450 a year in added fees imposed by TV and Internet providers, estimated a address in October.
While some add-ons are taxes imposed by local, accompaniment and federal governments anesthetized assimilate consumers, others are created by the providers “for things that are annihilation added than a bulk of accomplishing business,” the October address stated.
Examples accommodate the alleged Advertisement TV Fee, Bounded Sports Fee, and Set-Top Box Fee, the address said. Combined, the company-imposed fees bulk to a 24% customs on top of the advertised price, the address said.
Consumer Reports estimated the fees could be breeding as abundant as $28 billion a year for cable companies.
The new law wasn’t a admirable bang for consumers and Customer Reports. The House adaptation appropriate acknowledgment of add-on fees afore consumers assurance up. But the adaptation anesthetized by the Senate accouterment the acknowledgment claim to aural 24 hours afterwards sign-up, according to the pay-TV industry babysitter armpit FierceVideo.com.
Also, the law alone applies to pay-TV providers, and not internet account providers (ISPs). Customer Reports’ address credibility out that while TV consumers can action aback by “cutting the cord” and relying on over-the-air and alive apps, “hidden fees are starting to edge into ‘internet only’ account bales as well.”
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©2019 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com
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