DirecTV’s regional sports fees vary wildly, nonsensically, by ZIP code

Enlarge / DirecTV's monthly sports fee varies a lot by ZIP code, a Consumerist article shows. (credit: Consumerist)

If you're a DirecTV customer who is annoyed by your monthly "regional sports fee," get ready to be even more agitated. Depending on what ZIP code you live in, you could pay anywhere from $0 to $7.29 a month (or $87.48 a year) to get the same exact sports networks and watch the same exact teams you watch now.

The news site Consumerist published an extensive report about this on Wednesday. DirecTV owner AT&T has not yet explained in much detail why it charges such different fees to customers who receive the same exact service. In the above image, courtesy of Consumerist, you can see DirecTV monthly fees in Arizona of $0, $2.47, $5.83, and $7.29.

AT&T's website says the fees vary by ZIP code "due to contractual obligations requiring us to offer multiple sports networks in select ZIP Codes, or in rare instances, a single Regional Sports Network (RSN) that carries games from four or more teams. These local RSN(s) are included in most base packages, but some don't include RSNs, and are therefore not subject to a fee."

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