A Florida man has filed a class-action lawsuit against Netflix over the poor streaming quality that affected millions during the widely viewed boxing match between former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and YouTube personality Jake Paul on Friday night.
Ronald “Blue” Denton, a resident of Hillsborough County, Florida, alleged that the streaming giant was guilty of breach of contract over the frequent glitches, according to TMZ.
The class-action lawsuit filed in Florida state court is seeking damages of at least $50 million.
“60 million Americans were hyped to see ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ versus Youtuber-turner-prizefighter Jake Paul. What they saw was ‘The Baddest Streaming on Planet,’” the lawsuit claims.
It was alleged that many viewers missed portions of the fight due to the interruptions.
“Netflix customers experienced massive streaming issues and should have known better because it’s happened before. They were woefully ill-prepared,” according to the lawsuit.
Citing “over 100,000 people complaining online,” the lawsuit claimed that “boxing fans, along with the average Americans wanting to see a legend in what would most likely be his last fight, were faced with legendary problems, including: no access, streaming glitches and buffering issues.”
During the bout, many viewers took to social media to express their frustrations with streaming and buffering problems before and during the fight.
According to the website Down Detector, nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to the fight.’
The bout was scheduled for eight two-minute rounds, as opposed to the normal three minutes and 10 or 12 rounds for most pro fights.
Paul won the fight by unanimous decision.
Netflix said Saturday that the bout was watched by a worldwide audience of 60 million and peaked at 65 million concurrent streams.
It said nearly 50 million households were turned in for the co-main event between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in which Taylor kept her undisputed super lightweight championship with another disputed decision.
Netflix said it would provide additional viewership information, including total viewers, this coming week.
The bout between the YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, and Tyson, 58-year-old former heavyweight champion, from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was Netflix’s biggest live sports event to date, and an opportunity to make sure it can handle audience demand with the NFL and WWE on the horizon.
It streamed globally to Netflix’s 280 million subscribers at no additional cost.
The Post has sought comment from Netflix.
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