The coal increase from the sports livestream service DAZN – now consumer protection is involved.
The Federal Association of Consumer Centers (vzbz) wants to take action against the Internet broadcaster’s steep price increase with a so-called model declaratory action.
The streaming provider DAZN had doubled its prices for all new and returning subscribers on February 1, 2022 and received a lot of criticism for it.
In the summer of 2022, the streaming platform then increased the subscription prices for existing customers. From August 1, 2022, everyone paid the same price model: with the option of monthly cancellation, 29.99 euros per month – instead of the previous 14.99 euros. With an annual subscription, 24.99 euros per month (previously 12.49 euros).
DAZN now offers its full program on its own website for 39.99 euros, which can be flexibly canceled monthly for new registrations. Including two simultaneous streams and six registered devices. With a contract for one year, the costs for sports fans are 29.99 euros per month…
What exactly is consumer protection complaining about?
The vzbz considers the underlying clause of the general terms and conditions to be non-transparent, i.e. not transparent. The result for the Federal Association of Consumer Advice Centers is that for all those who were already existing customers of the station at the time of the cost change, the price increase is considered illegal.
What’s next?
With a class action lawsuit, consumer protection wants to recover the overpaid fees from the provider for those affected. For this he is looking for DAZN customers who are affected by the price increase during an ongoing contract. And for which he can sue.
That could be really expensive for the broadcaster if vzbz gets the point. And bring back a lot of money to the paying fans…