Did WWE mislead its audience regarding its access to the company\u2019s Premium Live Events on the ESPN streaming service? That\u2019s what a new class action lawsuit filed against the company claims.<\/p>\n
According to Post Wrestling<\/a>, the lawsuit that was filed on Thursday night in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut alleges that WWE and ESPN engaged in deceptive marketing practices ahead of the Sept. 20 Wrestlepalooza event, which marked the pro wrestling giant\u2019s PLE debut on the Worldwide Leader in Sports.<\/p>\n Specifically, the lawsuit notes that many WWE fans who already subscribed to ESPN through traditional cable services were still required to pay the $29.99 per month fee to receive access to the Disney-owned company\u2019s streaming service in order to watch the show. The lawsuit claims that differs from what WWE communicated to its audience in the leadup to the event, alleging that the TKO subsidiary indicated that anyone who already had access to ESPN would be able to view the event on the streaming service at no additional cost.<\/p>\n Notably, the lawsuit only names WWE as a plaintiff and not ESPN or Disney. According to Post Wrestling\u2019s Brandon Thurston, that\u2019s in an effort to avoid arbitration and class action waiver provisions in Disney\u2019s subscriber agreement.<\/p>\n The lawsuit seeks to represent any U.S. customers who paid for ESPN\u2019s direct-to-consumer streaming service in the leadup to Wrestlepalooza despite already subscribing to the ESPN cable channel through traditional means. It claims that more than $5 million is at issue, with the plaintiffs potentially receiving a partial refund or full reimbursement if the suit is successful.<\/p>\n As we covered at the time<\/a>, there was certainly no shortage of confusion surrounding WWE\u2019s debut on ESPN\u2019s DTC streaming service last September. While ESPN had reached authentication agreements with cable providers such as Spectrum and DirecTV, it had yet to do so with Comcast, YouTube TV and Cox among others, leaving those companies\u2019 customers to effectively double pay in order to receive access to the event<\/a>. Predictably, outrage ensued<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet despite the apparent confusion, WWE could potentially \u2014 and will perhaps likely \u2014 argue that it shouldn\u2019t be held responsible for an issue that primarily stems from ESPN\u2019s carriage agreements, as confusion regarding such authentication practices was just limited to pro wrestling. While the lawsuit points to the language used in the announcement of the ESPN deal and comments WWE president Nick Khan made on The Varsity podcast to bolster its claim the company misled its audience, a segment on WWE SmackDown<\/a> the night before Wrestlepalooza specified that the show would be available at no additional cost to customers of \u201cmost big providers.\u201d<\/p>\n Thurston also noted in his report that certifying the class could be a \u201ckey issue\u201d in the case. As of Friday, WWE has yet to file a response in court.<\/p>\n \t