What’s worse than getting charges for watching simple TV broadcast?
Getting charged when you are not even watching! That’s why all the customers who have had enough wish to know how to get rid of Broadcast TV fee.
Xfinity or Comcast users are happy with the deals but have to face additional broadcast TV fee which is nothing but a tricky strategy from the company to get cash out of your pockets.
The truth is that this charge can be completely avoided!
However, you need to understand the fees that Comcast charges before you can request for them to be removed.
In this article we will talk all about what broadcast TV fee is and should you really be paying it.
Why Are You Seeing Broadcast TV Fee on Your Bill?
We had hoped there would be a genuine explanation behind this but, unfortunately, there isn’t!
In simpler words, there are no reason why you should be paying the broadcast TV fee in addition to other charges. Needless to say, this fee is not recommended or suggested by the government.
Did You Know? More than 10 millions users in the US pay the broadcast fee without even knowing what it stands for.
When the fee shows up suddenly on the bill, many customers assume it to be an increment in service charges when it is not.
The company simply does not have any logical reason to implement the broadcast TV fee.
Moreover, there is not standard protocol for deciding what the fee should be i.e. it may be different for different users.
Then why the broadcast fee is there?
The surcharges was first imposed by AT&T back in 2013.
However, they had a legit reason to do so: recover the loss that they were facing at the hand of local broadcasters.
AT&T claimed to have learned this tactic from DirecTV. This streaming services came up with Regional Sport Fee as alternative to Broadcast fee to make up for the charges for sports channel and other entertainment that DirecTV offers.
Now Comcast Xfinity and services like Spectrum are charging varying cost in the name of broadcast fee to make up for losses they face due to local broadcasters.
How To Get Rid of Broadcast TV Fee Once and For All
There is no sure way by which you can have the fee removed 100%. However, there are a few steps that you can take to deal with this additional burden on your pocket.
A silver lining is that Comcast has made the broadcast fee totally negotiable. This means, where there are chances that you will be charged a hefty amount, it is also possible to have to waived off after discussions.
Therefore, your first step should be to communicate with their customer support team. If you can successfully spark up a valid bargain, the company may remove the charge from your bill. Additionally, it can reduce the fee as well and, in our opinion, that’s not a bad deal!
Note!It may take a couple of minute for the agent to pick up your call so be patient.
Once you are in touch with the representative, don’t hesitate to inform him/her that the fee is a major inconvenience for you.
They need to know that you are not comfortable with the charges and may opt out of the service completely if these are not dropped.
Some people who have successfully scored a deal had also discussed how they have found a better provider with no additional costs.
Although you need to be confident about what you are demanding, don’t skip on the friendly tone. Otherwise, you might end up offending the person on the other end of the line.
After all, he is not the one charging you with the bill but you need his help to get rid of it!
You Can Ask a Third Party To Negotiate On Your Behalf
If you think you are not good with word or convincing someone to drop the additional charges, then it is better to leave things in the hands of the professional.
The issue is that waiving off the fee is never the prioritized option for Xfinity. They would put your call on hold as their team comes up with a better response or solution to the problem that you are discussing.
Consequently, more than 50% of the people who try to negotiate with the company themselves are not able to score the credit. It is even more difficult for users who have just subscribed to the service.
Therefore, we suggest that you get help from third-party service providers. They can negotiate with the company on your behalf and may be able to convince Comcast with better deals.
Reliable Alternatives To Paid TV Services
What if any guide on how to get rid of broadcast TV fee is not able to help you? Then there are think chances that you would end up paying a huge amount of money every month!
Doesn’t that call for a better service that may cost less?
When we looked into what most people liked in Comcast service, we realized that they were impressed by the wide variety of channels, However, the truth was that they weren’t even watching half of them!
In other words, they were paying that much just to have access to a fancy but useless channel list.
If you can pin down the type of entertainment you mostly opt for then it is possible to find a premium service that is more fruitful.
For example, YouTube offers around 85 channels.
This may sound less impressive than 260+ channels that Comcast has in stock but, honestly, they are just as much useful. You can enjoy live sport, on-demand videos, cloud-based storage and much more.
Similarly, Hulu is a great alternative as a reliable streaming service. It hosts 65 popular channels and affordable subscription plans for all sorts of users. You can save money, enjoy variety of features, and avoid paying hefty charges for the entertainment!
Note! If you are having issues with Hulu TV frequent redirects, Click Here to access a simple and easy solution.
Wrap Up
It seems like someone clever at DirecTV came up with the idea of the surcharge and everyone followed in the footsteps. Luckily, you can avoid the broadcast TV fee without giving up TV subscription.
This is possible by contact the customer support team at Comcast. You can also seek help from third-party negotiators to discuss a deal on your behalf.
Jamie Johnson is very enthusiastic Kansas City – based freelance writer, and her core expertise are finance and insurance. She has been endorsed on several personal finance, insurance & business website to share her thoughts. Her publications can be found on famous sites like Bankrate, The Balance, Business Insider, Chamber of Commerce and many others.
From many years, she served more than 10,000 hours of research and writing to more than 2000 articles related to personal finance, credit building, mortgages, and personal and student loans.
