DirecTV offering refunds for NFL Sunday Ticket in wake of players' national anthem protests

DirecTV is reportedly offering customers refunds on their NFL Sunday Ticket packages following outcry against NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.

What is NFL Sunday Ticket?

NFL Sunday Ticket is a programming package offered by DirecTV what allows viewers to watch any and all televised NFL regular season games in real time. The average price for the package is around $280 for the season.

What are reports alleging?

According to the Wall Street Journal, several customer service representatives from DirecTV revealed that the company is willing to provide refunds to some customers who "cite players’ national anthem protests as the reason" for wanting to cancel.

The WSJ reported that DirecTV doesn't generally honor cancellation requests once the regular season is in full swing.

According to the WSJ via NBC Sports:

One [representative] said refunds to those concerned about the anthem protests were only offered to subscribers with certain offers or plans. One representative said full refunds were available for those who complained about anthem protests. Another said such people could only get prorated refunds for the remainder of the season. Yet other representatives said the policy hadn’t changed and that no refunds were allowed for any reason.

ESPN reported that it addressed the report with a spokesperson for AT&T, which acquired DirecTV in 2015, but the spokesperson declined to confirm the report.

What are people saying about this?

Marc Hoffman, a customer who spoke to the WSJ, said that he contacted DirecTV to request a cancellation of his NFL Sunday Ticket package and received a refund as a result.

Hoffman, a former business editor at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said, "I honestly didn’t think I’d get a refund. I know their guidelines; I just wanted to make a point."

Chris Baker of Indiana, another customer, told the WSJ that he wanted to cancel the package because he felt that sports was becoming too politicized: "I explained to them I was tired of politics in sports, and it’s not how I want to spend my Sunday, watching all that transpire."

Baker did not reveal whether he was able to receive a refund but noted that the customer service representative to whom he spoke with indicated that "there was a high volume of calls calling in to cancel."

TheBlaze has reached out to DirecTV for clarification on this report and will update this story further if the company releases an official statement on the matter.