Where's the 'Rain Check' for Missed Sports on TV?

New York State Attorney General Letitia James wants to see some money change hands. James recently called on cable and satellite companies to slash their customers' bills to reflect the fact that COVID-19 has eliminated virtually all live TV sporting events. James has a point, because there's a fair bit of money involved here: As tech industry competitors have played pied piper to fans of movies and TV shows, the legacy pay-TV (cable and satellite) business has become increasingly reliant on sports. Sports account for a huge chunk of the typical customer's pay-TV bill, and right now that money is being paid by subscribers in return for almost nothing at all.

But this is a complicated issue. Will there be refunds? If so, how will they work? This is about more than just sports leagues and fans -- it's also about pay-TV companies like AT&T (NYSE: T), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), and Altice (NYSE: ATUS), as well as sports networks like Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ESPN, Comcast's NBC Sports Network, and Fox Corporation's (NASDAQ: FOXA) (NASDAQ: FOX) FS1, as well as regional networks owned by these companies and others.