Comcast is issuing refunds after technical difficulties hampered its coverage of The Match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
The Match: The golf competition no one asked for, lots people paid for and many others were able to watch for free thanks to a technical problem ahead of tee-off. In other words, $9 million very questionably spent.
Phil Mickelson beat Tiger Woods over 22 holes in their Black Friday showdown, but technical difficulties have led Comcast to issue a refund to all those customers who paid for the pay-per-view event.
A glitch with Bleacher Report’s streaming service persuaded Turner Sports to stream the event for free. The decision was designed to ensure anyone who paid for The Match got to watch, but also meant plenty of others could enjoy it without paying.
Comcast released a statement saying that it would refund any customers who paid for the PPV and also asked Turner and Bleacher Report to forego their profits, apparently on the grounds that if Comcast isn’t going to make any money, no one should.
"Comcast will proactively issue a $19.99 credit to any Xfinity TV customer who purchased ‘The Match’ pay-per-view event. We hope Turner and Bleacher Report will do the same given that the event was made available by them for free on The Bleacher Report website."
Bleacher Report has yet to announce how it plans to handle the situation, but managed, in a statement made to USA Today on Friday night, to tell us absolutely nothing we don’t already know:
"We experienced some technical issues on B/R Live that temporarily impacted user access to ‘The Match.’ We took a number of steps to resolve the matter, with our main priority being the delivery of content to those that purchased the PPV event."
Where does this leave everyone? If you paid Comcast to watch the pay-per-view, it leaves you with your money back. If you streamed The Match for free following the technical glitch, it leaves you exactly where you were.
If you own Comcast or Turner Sports, it leaves you, well, that remains to be seen. The Match was worth $9 million. With no, or severely limited, PPV revenue, it’s hard to say who will end up footing the bill.
At least the golf was good.