Comcast hit with ‘largest civil penalty’ ever issued over shady billing practices

Oct11

by Sindy Cator on October 11, 2016 at 6:39 pm

The Federal Communications Commission just smacked Comcast with a $2.3 million fine — the ‘largest civil penalty’ ever issued to a cable operator. The fine centers around a practice known as ‘negative option billing.’ When signing up for a new cable subscription, for example, a new customer might get three months of premium channels — like HBO or Showtime. If the customer forgets to cancel within the period, they’re on the hook for the amount of each channel, even if it wasn’t properly communicated that the channels were included in the first place. Many complained of negative option billing for DVR rentals…