Although COVID-19 has essentially put all live sports programming on hold, cable and satellite television providers are still making consumers pay up to $20 a month in fees for live sports programming and refusing to reduce the cost of packages which normally include live sports. 

As a result, New York Attorney General Letitia James sent letters to seven major cable and satellite television providers in New York requesting financial relief for consumers by reducing or eliminating fees attributable to live sports programming. The Attorney General noted that although cable companies may contend they are under no contractual obligation to provide any particular programming service or channel,  "an entire category of key programming is no longer available, and applying those contractual provisions to this circumstance is leading to unexpected and unfair results for consumers."

In the letters, the companies were asked to immediately prepare and provide plans to the Attorney General's office for “appropriate refunds, discounts and reductions of charges and fees, payment deferrals, and waiver of termination fees, at least until live sports programming is resumed.”