ESPN is seeking to intervene in a class-action lawsuit filed against WWE, filing a memorandum asking a court to let them join the case and push it into arbitration, according to a report from Brandon Thurston.
The original lawsuit was filed in January by two consumers who accused WWE of deceptive marketing, alleging the company advertised that ESPN subscribers would have access to premium live events without paying an additional fee. When the suit was filed, WWE was named as the defendant, but ESPN was notably excluded from the filing. Thurston explained the reason for that omission in his report. “Plaintiffs did not name ESPN as a defendant, apparently to get around the arbitration clause in the subscriber agreement,” Thurston wrote.
By filing its own memorandum, ESPN is asking the court to transfer the lawsuit to arbitration, a condition built into parent company Disney’s subscriber agreement. Moving the case to arbitration would take it out of the class-action court setting entirely, which is a significantly more favorable outcome for both ESPN and WWE.
The case centers on the gap between what was promised and what was delivered when the WWE-ESPN deal was first announced. At the time, ESPN stated it expected to eventually sign deals with all cable and streaming providers, allowing consumers to access ESPN Unlimited at no additional cost as part of their existing subscriptions. As of this writing, that has not yet happened. Consumers without a qualifying provider must pay thirty dollars a month for ESPN Unlimited access.
The plaintiffs in the case are seeking to represent any United States-based customers who were existing ESPN subscribers between August 6 and prior to WWE’s Wrestlepalooza premium live event on September 20, as well as those who paid for the service during that period. Subscribers through Hulu Plus Live, Spectrum, Verizon FiOS, DirecTV, and Fubo TV are excluded from the class because those providers had arrangements that gave their subscribers free access to ESPN Unlimited during the relevant timeframe.
