NY AG Bloomberg Subscription Settlement: $500,000 and Refunds

New York Attorney General Letitia James accepted a signed Assurance of Discontinuance from Bloomberg L.P. on November 2, 2026, resolving an investigation into Bloomberg.com subscription sign-up and cancellation practices. Bloomberg pays $500,000 in penalties and must automatically refund four defined classes of subscribers nationwide.

Information last verified on November 3, 2026. This is a developing story; we update it as the record changes.

Status: Assurance of Discontinuance No. 26-030, signed by the Office of the Attorney General on November 2, 2026 and announced the same day. Under paragraph 130 of the Assurance, the effective date is the date the OAG signs, so the compliance and payment clocks run from November 2, 2026. The matter was resolved without a court filing, under New York Executive Law section 63(15). Bloomberg L.P. neither admits nor denies the OAG's findings.

Jurisdiction scope: This covers one New York state enforcement resolution against Bloomberg L.P. concerning Bloomberg.com consumer subscriptions. The restitution classes reach U.S. subscribers nationwide, but the compliance obligations bind Bloomberg L.P. only. Nothing here states the auto-renewal law of any other state, and the general New York requirements described below apply to businesses making automatic renewal or continuous service offers to New York consumers, subject to the statute's own exemptions.

What Happened

The Office of the Attorney General opened its investigation under New York Executive Law section 63(12), General Business Law sections 349 and 527-a, and the federal Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, 15 U.S.C. 8403, looking at the enrollment and cancellation practices behind Bloomberg.com subscriptions. The Assurance states that the conduct it describes ran from at least February 2021 until approximately December 2023.

The respondent is Bloomberg L.P., a Delaware limited partnership headquartered at 731 Lexington Avenue in New York. The OAG press release refers to the company as Bloomberg News, and the Assurance was signed by the chief executive of Bloomberg Media acting at the direction of Bloomberg Inc. as general partner. The products at issue are consumer Bloomberg.com subscriptions, not the newsroom's journalism.

Six subscription types are covered: monthly digital, annual digital, monthly all access (until July 2022), annual all access, monthly student and annual student. Each renewed automatically unless the subscriber acted.

The pricing the OAG described

Figure A of the Assurance sets out the promotional and regular prices. These are the figures the primary document gives, and they correct a conflation that appears in the press release.

Paragraph 21 presents these as exemplary figures and notes that pricing varied over time depending on sales, promotions or other factors, so Figure A is a sample of the pricing rather than an exhaustive price list.

The $1.99 promotional rate belonged to the monthly digital plan, which the Assurance says reverted to $34.99. The $39.99 rate was the regular price of the monthly all access plan, whose promotional rate was $4.99. The OAG press release describes "$1.99 for the first three months" rising "to $39.99 per month," which pairs the promotional price of one plan with the regular price of another; a later paragraph of the same release gives the $1.99 to $34.99 figures that match Figure A. Where the two documents diverge, the Assurance is the operative record.

The disclosure and cancellation findings

The OAG found that Bloomberg displayed promotional prices in dark, conspicuous type while disclosing the introductory nature of the price and the full renewal price "only in small, thin, light font underneath the box containing the offer and the prominent purchase button." For the student plan, the Assurance says Bloomberg failed to disclose anywhere in the offer that the subscription would renew at the standard price once the student graduated.

Bloomberg briefly fixed part of this. In July 2022 it used a version of its multi-offer page that stated "$1.99 for 3mo" and showed the $34.99 full price directly below as part of the main offer text. According to the Assurance, Bloomberg used that version for one month before reverting to the previous format until approximately March 2023.

The findings turn hardest on the phrase "cancel anytime," which appeared in the offers. The Assurance says subscribers actually had to cancel within a window before the renewal date, either 24 or 48 hours depending on the offer, and that Bloomberg refused to refund renewal charges requested after that window. On the internal instruction, the Assurance quotes training materials directly:

Bloomberg's customer service agents were specifically instructed in training materials, "we DO NOT refund annual subscriptions."

Source: Assurance of Discontinuance No. 26-030, paragraph 40.

On cancellation mechanics, the OAG found that Bloomberg's online cancellation process was significantly longer than its sign-up process, and that none of the three confirmation-email formats carried everything General Business Law section 527-a requires in a post-purchase acknowledgment. Subscribers could cancel by email from at least February 2021, but the Assurance says Bloomberg did not tell them so until February 2023. Phone cancellations had been processed since September 2020, but the Assurance says Bloomberg never gave subscribers the number as a cancellation option. App purchasers had to cancel through Apple or Google, which the Assurance says Bloomberg did not explain at any point in enrollment. An in-account cancellation mechanism arrived in May 2023.

Announcing the resolution, the Attorney General said: "Tricking consumers into costly subscriptions with misleading terms is illegal in New York."

Source: Office of the New York State Attorney General press release, November 2, 2026, quoting Attorney General Letitia James.

Paragraph 85 is the limit on all of it. Bloomberg L.P. neither admits nor denies the OAG's findings in paragraphs 1 through 83. The OAG accepted the Assurance under Executive Law section 63(15) in lieu of commencing a statutory proceeding, so no court has adjudicated these allegations.

Who the Refunds Cover and How They Are Paid

This is the part the press release left vague, and the Assurance is specific. Paragraph 105 defines four restitution classes. Every one of them is drawn from U.S. subscribers, not New York subscribers, and every one uses the same purchase window: February 9, 2021 through June 30, 2023.

Note the mismatch between that window and the conduct period. The OAG describes the practices as running from at least February 2021 until approximately December 2023, but every restitution class stops at June 30, 2023. A subscriber who bought in the second half of 2023 can therefore fall outside all four classes even though the practices the OAG describes were still in place. The Assurance does not explain the cutoff.

Two cross-cutting rules apply first. A subscriber who meets the criteria for more than one class receives full restitution as a member of each class. A subscriber who has already received a refund equal to or greater than what a class would provide is excluded from that class.

Class (a): annual renewals at a higher price

Subscribers who bought at a promotional price that automatically renewed on an annual basis at a higher price, who cancelled at any time within their first automatic renewal year, and who did not re-subscribe within twelve months. The Assurance sets restitution at a refund of up to $200, calculated on a pro rata basis of the amount charged for the first renewal year.

Class (b): monthly plans after the promotion ended

Subscribers who bought a monthly automatically renewing subscription at a promotional price and who, within three months of their first renewal at a non-promotional price, both cancelled and did not resubscribe within twelve months. Restitution is a flat $15 per person.

Class (c): student plans after graduation

Subscribers who bought a monthly or annual student subscription that renewed at a non-student price and who requested cancellation within three months of that first non-student renewal. Restitution is 50 percent of the total cost of the first renewal at the non-student price.

Class (d): subscribers who complained

Subscribers who submitted a complaint through any communication channel to Bloomberg, the OAG, the Better Business Bureau or the FTC regarding Bloomberg's cancellation policies or procedures, and who requested cancellation of the subscription within six months of the complaint, before or after it. Restitution is a refund of all charges and fees incurred after the earlier of the complaint date or the date of the first cancellation request.

Class (d) is the broadest in effect, because it is keyed to a complaint rather than to a particular plan or price movement, and because its refund is not capped at a set figure.

There is no claim form

The Assurance does not create a claims process, and it does not ask consumers to apply. Paragraph 106 places the work on Bloomberg. Restitution payments must be issued within 90 days of the effective date, a date the Assurance calls the Restitution Deadline, which falls on about January 31, 2027. Bloomberg must refund class members electronically by transmitting the full amount to the last-known valid payment method on file, including by reversing the charge on a payment card, and must then email the consumer within five business days describing the relief, naming the dollar amount and confirming where the refund went.

If the electronic refund fails, paragraph 107 sets a fallback. Bloomberg must email the consumer, state the amount owed, and direct them to a Restitution Website where they can elect a digital payment or a paper check to a mailing address they supply. If that email bounces or the consumer makes no election within 30 days, Bloomberg must use reverse look-up or skip-trace to find a physical address and mail a paper check. Missing the 30-day election window therefore does not forfeit the money; it changes how the money arrives.

Paper checks are mailed first class with instructions that uncashed checks are voided on the six-month anniversary of issuance. Bloomberg must give the OAG the planned notices for review and approval at least 15 business days before they go out, and paragraph 108 lets Bloomberg treat 15 business days of OAG silence as approval. Bloomberg must give the OAG a full accounting of restitution payments within 30 days of the Restitution Deadline. Anything still unpaid or uncashed six months after that deadline goes to the State of New York, to be kept as penalties and costs or redistributed as further restitution at the OAG's discretion.

Whether any particular former subscriber sits inside one of these classes depends on dates and cancellation history in Bloomberg's own records. The Assurance gives the criteria; it does not publish a list, and this article cannot tell any individual reader where they land.

What the Law Actually Says

The Assurance rests on three bodies of law, and it is worth separating what New York requires of every covered business from what this document requires of Bloomberg alone.

New York General Business Law sections 349 and 350

General Business Law Article 22-a prohibits deceptive acts or practices and false advertising in the conduct of business in New York. Section 349 has since been broadened: its current revision, dated April 3, 2026 on New York's legislation site, is captioned "Unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices unlawful" and adds statutory definitions of unfair conduct and of abusive conduct. The deception framework the Assurance applies is the one that governed the 2021 to 2023 conduct rather than the full current scope of the section. The Assurance notes that an act is deceptive if it is misleading in a material way to a reasonable consumer, and that New York courts read sections 349 and 350 consistently with Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a). Paragraph 4 invokes the FTC's deception analysis, which looks at the entire transaction or course of dealing rather than each element separately, and under which fine print may be insufficient to cure a misleading representation. That reasoning is what connects a prominent $1.99 to a liability finding.

New York General Business Law section 527-a

Section 527-a, in Article 29-BB, is New York's automatic renewal statute and the operative source of the sign-up and cancellation duties. The statute has been amended since the conduct described in the Assurance; New York's official legislation site shows the current text as the most recent revision dated November 7, 2025. As it now reads, a business making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a New York consumer must:

• Present the material terms clearly and conspicuously before consent or billing information is requested, in visual proximity to the request for consent, and explain how and when a temporary or trial price will change and what will be charged afterward.
• Obtain affirmative consent to the agreement containing the automatic renewal terms before charging for the initial term.
• Either obtain affirmative consent to a later price increase, or allow cancellation for at least 14 days after the charge and refund the remaining term on a pro rata basis.
• Provide a retainable notice promptly after consent, covering the terms, the costs, the charge frequency, the deadline to act and the cancellation mechanisms.
• Let the consumer cancel at any time through a mechanism as easy to use as the one used to consent, in the same medium, and through every medium the business uses to obtain consent.
• Refrain from unreasonable conditions, obstruction or unreasonable delay. The statute names examples, including hanging up on consumers who call to cancel and giving false information about how to cancel. Retention offers are allowed, but not as a barrier.
• Send a renewal notice at least 15 days but not more than 45 days before the cancellation deadline for offers with an initial paid term of a year or longer that renew for six months or longer, with cancellation instructions included.
• Give at least 5 business days but not more than 30 days notice of a material change, including a price increase.
• Send a notice at least 3 days but not more than 21 days before the cancellation deadline for the first chargeable period where the offer includes a free gift or trial lasting more than a month.

Subdivision 2 adds a separate remedy with no money in it for the business: goods sent under an automatic renewal or continuous service agreement without the consumer's affirmative consent are deemed an unconditional gift to the consumer.

Enforcement sits with the Attorney General, who may seek an injunction and civil penalties. The statutory penalties are modest on their face: up to $100 for a single violation and $500 for multiple violations from a single act, rising to $500 and $1,000 for knowing violations. Article 29-BB also carries exemptions, including for entities regulated by the Department of Financial Services, banks and credit unions, security system alarm operators, and sellers and administrators of service contracts.

Executive Law section 63(12), and where the penalty comes from

Those per-violation caps explain why the OAG did not rely on section 527-a alone. Executive Law section 63(12) lets the Attorney General act against a person who engages in repeated fraudulent or illegal acts, or otherwise demonstrates persistent fraud or illegality in carrying on business, and seek an injunction, restitution and damages. Section 63(15) is the provision that allows the Attorney General to accept an assurance of discontinuance in lieu of filing suit, and it provides that evidence of a violation of the assurance is prima facie proof of a violation of the applicable law in any later civil action or proceeding commenced by the Attorney General.

Paragraph 84 of the Assurance ties it together: the OAG finds that the practices described constitute repeated violations of General Business Law sections 349, 350 and 527-a, of ROSCA, and of Executive Law section 63(12).

ROSCA, and the federal rule that no longer exists

The Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, 15 U.S.C. 8403, makes it unlawful to charge a consumer for goods or services sold online through a negative option feature unless the seller discloses all material terms clearly and conspicuously before obtaining billing information, obtains express informed consent before charging, and provides simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges. ROSCA is a statute, and it is still in force.

The FTC rule that many people call click-to-cancel is a different thing, and it is gone. The Commission's 2024 rule amending the Negative Option Rule was challenged in four circuits, and the petitions were consolidated in the Eighth Circuit. In Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC, No. 24-3137 (8th Cir. July 8, 2025), reported at 142 F.4th 1060, a per curiam panel concluded that the Commission had failed to follow the procedural requirements of section 22 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 57b-3(b)(1), and vacated the rule in its entirety. Because the court held the rulemaking process "procedurally insufficient" and found that petitioners had shown prejudicial error, it wrote that it "need not address Petitioners' other substantive challenges to the Rule," so it did not reach the arguments that the rule exceeded the FTC's statutory authority or was arbitrary and capricious. On February 12, 2026 the FTC published a final rule, effective the same day, to "recodify the text of the Negative Option Rule as it existed before the effective date of the Commission's 2024 final rule amending it," restoring the title "Use of Prenotification Negative Option Plans."

What now sits at 16 CFR Part 425 is that older prenotification rule, which addresses plans where a seller mails announcements and ships a selection unless the subscriber returns a form. On its own terms it does not reach an online news subscription. The Commission published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on March 13, 2026 seeking comment on amendments to the restored rule, with comments due April 13, 2026. As of November 3, 2026, a search of Federal Register documents from the FTC matching the Negative Option Rule since January 1, 2026 shows no superseding proposed or final rule. Our coverage of the federal status and the state auto-renewal rules that now carry the weight tracks that gap in more detail.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team.

The most useful thing in this document is not the $500,000. It is the compliance specification in paragraphs 87 through 102, which reads like a checklist any subscription business can be measured against, and which in several places asks for more than the statute does.

Paragraph 87(f) defines Material Terms as eight items: the initial price, any limits on an advertised benefit, how long the initial price applies, the price after it expires, the term, that the subscription will automatically renew, when it will renew, and all material terms of the cancellation policy including every deadline and every accepted cancellation method. Paragraph 90 requires those terms before the purchase completes or before billing information is collected. Paragraph 92 requires affirmative consent to the negative option feature separately from any other part of the transaction, which is a direct answer to the finding at paragraph 50 that Bloomberg had replaced a renewal-specific checkbox with a general terms-and-conditions checkbox.

Two obligations go beyond the general statute. Paragraph 93 requires the post-purchase acknowledgment to identify the next charge date as a specific calendar date rather than in relation to the renewal date, and to identify the cancel-by date either as a specific date or as a stated interval before a named renewal date, the example given being at least 72 hours before a renewal date of April 9, 2025. Section 527-a does not demand that on its face, because paragraphs 1(a) and 1(c)(iv) let a business state the deadline by date or by frequency. Paragraph 95 requires a renewal notice 15 to 45 days ahead for all automatically renewing subscriptions other than monthly ones, while the statute's notice duty in paragraph (f) is limited to offers with an initial paid term of a year or longer that renew for six months or longer. A quarterly or semi-annual plan would fall outside the statutory notice trigger but inside the Assurance.

Paragraph 98 is the one most likely to change how a cancellation flow is built. It requires an appropriately titled cancellation option inside the Subscriptions section of the subscriber's own account, and it requires that the option "effectuate cancelations within the online account, without directing Consumers to another webpage or transitioning the cancelation process to another medium." Read against the findings, that forecloses the specific pattern the OAG described: a hyperlink labeled cancel that lands on a help center, a chatbot that must be hunted for, and a request that ends with a case number and a promise of a return email.

The statutory penalty structure is the quiet lesson, and it is worth being careful about where a $500,000 penalty can come from. Section 527-a caps its own civil penalties at figures that would be trivial against a company of this size, and Executive Law section 63(12) supplies an injunction, restitution and damages rather than penalties. On our reading of the statutes, the civil penalty for an Article 22-A violation comes instead from General Business Law section 350-d, which makes anyone who commits an act the article declares unlawful liable for up to $5,000 for each violation, accruing to the State of New York and recoverable in an action brought by the Attorney General. Section 350-d reaches the whole of Article 22-A, so it would apply to a section 349 violation as well as a section 350 violation; it is not by itself an explanation for why section 350 appears in the paragraph 84 findings but not in the paragraph that opened the investigation, and the Assurance does not say. The Assurance names no penalty provision at all and does not show how the $500,000 was calculated. What Executive Law section 63(12) did contribute is the repeated-illegal-acts theory that let the OAG gather the General Business Law counts and the ROSCA count into a single pattern. ROSCA also has its own state enforcement route at 15 U.S.C. 8405, but that route provides injunctive relief in federal district court, and section 8405(d) expressly preserves a state attorney general's own state-law powers. The OAG used the state path and folded the federal violation in as part of the pattern, which is a materially different posture from a federal ROSCA suit.

That combination matters more now that the 2024 federal rule is vacated. The enforcement activity the OAG lists in its own release points the same way, from Equinox Group in May 2025 through 1-800-Flowers in July 2026 and Thirty Madison in August 2026 to this matter. We have covered adjacent moves on the same theory, including a joint FTC and multistate complaint over restaurant subscription fees and the rules New York City finalized for cancellations and junk fees. The same office reached a deceptive-pricing resolution with T-Mobile over its price guarantee earlier in this cycle.

One caution about reading settlements as law. Because Bloomberg neither admits nor denies the findings, nothing in this Assurance establishes that any described practice violated any statute. What it establishes is what the OAG is prepared to call a violation, and what it will accept as a remedy. For a business, the second is the more practical signal.

How This Affects You

For a former Bloomberg.com subscriber, the Assurance is self-executing. Nobody is asked to file anything, and the refund arrives at the payment method on file, or by an election email, or ultimately by a mailed check. Notices describing restitution must say that the payment is restitution under this Assurance, which is the marker that distinguishes a genuine notice from the copycat refund scams that follow announcements like this one. The notice text goes to the OAG for approval, not to a third party.

For anyone operating a subscription business, the practical reach is wider than one company. Paragraphs 87 through 102 bind Bloomberg L.P. and nobody else, but section 527-a binds every covered business making automatic renewal offers to New York consumers, and the Assurance is a reasonably clear statement of how this Attorney General reads those duties in an online flow. Paragraph 115 also preserves private rights: nothing in the Assurance deprives any person of any private right under the law.

What Happens Next

Four dates run from the November 2, 2026 effective date, and each is set by the Assurance rather than by a court calendar.

• Within 60 days, by about January 1, 2027: Bloomberg must wire the $500,000 Monetary Relief Amount to the State of New York, referencing AOD No. 26-030.
• Within two months, by about January 2, 2027: the compliance provisions take hold, covering sign-up disclosures, separate affirmative consent, acknowledgments with specific dates, renewal notices, in-account cancellation, cancellation confirmations, a designated compliance officer, written policies and third-party contractor terms.
• Within 90 days, by about January 31, 2027: restitution payments must be issued. An accounting to the OAG is due 30 days after that.
• Six months after the Restitution Deadline, around July 31, 2027: unpaid or uncashed restitution goes to the State of New York within 20 days, to be held as penalties or redistributed at the OAG's discretion.

The events that would turn this back into news are specific. A failure to meet the restitution deadline, or a later OAG filing, would matter because paragraph 112 provides that evidence of a violation of the Assurance is prima facie proof of a violation of the underlying law, and paragraph 118 makes the Assurance voidable at the OAG's sole discretion if Bloomberg's material representations prove inaccurate or misleading. On the federal side, the open question is whether the FTC moves from its March 2026 advance notice to an actual proposed rule. We will update this page as the record changes.

This article is not legal advice. It describes a New York enforcement resolution and the statutes it cites as of November 3, 2026. Whether any particular subscriber falls within a restitution class, and what any business must do to comply with an automatic renewal law, depends on facts and records this article cannot assess. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction about your own situation.

Related articles

• Click to Cancel Laws: Federal Status and State Auto-Renewal Rules
• NYC Finalizes Click-to-Cancel Rule, Proposes All-In Pricing Rule for Junk Fees
• FTC and Seven State Attorneys General Sue Toast Over Alleged Hidden Fees and Hard-to-Cancel Restaurant Subscriptions
• T-Mobile Price Guarantee Settlement: New York AG Deal Explained
• New York Settles Dollar General Overcharging Case for $1.875 Million in Goods

Last updated: 2026-11-03. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-11-03.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a claim form for the Bloomberg subscription refunds?

No. Assurance No. 26-030 creates no claims process and asks consumers to apply for nothing. Paragraph 106 requires Bloomberg L.P. to issue restitution within 90 days of the November 2, 2026 effective date by refunding class members electronically to the last-known valid payment method on file, then emailing confirmation within five business days. If the electronic refund fails, paragraph 107 requires an email directing the consumer to elect a digital payment or a check, and a mailed check by default if no election is made.

Do the Bloomberg refunds only go to New York subscribers?

No. All four restitution classes in paragraph 105 are defined as U.S. subscribers, so the refunds reach subscribers nationwide even though the enforcement action is a New York state resolution. The forward-looking compliance obligations, by contrast, bind Bloomberg L.P. as a company rather than applying state by state.

Which Bloomberg subscribers does the settlement cover?

Paragraph 105 defines four classes, all drawn from purchases between February 9, 2021 and June 30, 2023: annual promotional subscribers who cancelled within the first automatic renewal year and did not return within twelve months; monthly promotional subscribers who cancelled within three months of the first full-price renewal and did not return within twelve months; student subscribers who sought cancellation within three months of the first non-student renewal; and subscribers who complained to Bloomberg, the OAG, the Better Business Bureau or the FTC about cancellation and requested cancellation within six months of that complaint. All four classes stop at June 30, 2023 while the OAG describes the conduct as continuing until approximately December 2023, so someone who subscribed in the second half of 2023 can fall outside every class. Whether a given person falls inside a class turns on dates and cancellation history in Bloomberg's records.

How much money does each restitution class receive?

The Assurance sets different amounts per class: up to $200 on a pro rata basis of the first renewal year for the annual class; a flat $15 per person for the monthly class; 50 percent of the first non-student renewal for the student class; and all charges and fees incurred after the earlier of the complaint date or first cancellation request for the complaint class. A person in more than one class receives full restitution for each, and anyone already refunded an equal or greater amount is excluded from that class.

Did Bloomberg admit it broke the law?

No. Paragraph 85 states that Bloomberg L.P. neither admits nor denies the OAG's findings in paragraphs 1 through 83. The OAG accepted the Assurance under New York Executive Law section 63(15) in lieu of commencing a statutory proceeding, so no court adjudicated the allegations. The findings are the Attorney General's, not a judicial determination.

What statutes did the New York Attorney General actually cite?

The investigation was opened under New York Executive Law section 63(12), General Business Law sections 349 and 527-a, and the federal Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, 15 U.S.C. 8403. Paragraph 84 states the OAG's finding of repeated violations of General Business Law sections 349, 350 and 527-a, of ROSCA, and of Executive Law section 63(12). Section 350 appears in the findings as the false advertising provision alongside section 349.

Is the federal click-to-cancel rule still in effect in 2026?

No. In Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC, 142 F.4th 1060 (8th Cir. 2025), the Eighth Circuit vacated the FTC's 2024 amendments to the Negative Option Rule, finding the Commission's failure to issue a preliminary regulatory analysis procedurally insufficient. On February 12, 2026 the FTC published a final rule recodifying the earlier prenotification rule, so 16 CFR Part 425 now carries the older Use of Prenotification Negative Option Plans text. The FTC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on March 13, 2026 with comments due April 13, 2026. ROSCA, the underlying federal statute, was never vacated and remains in force.

What does New York law require of subscription businesses now?

General Business Law section 527-a, whose current text New York's legislature site shows as last revised November 7, 2025, requires clear and conspicuous material terms in visual proximity to the consent request, affirmative consent before the first charge, consent to a later price increase or at least 14 days to cancel with a pro rata refund, a retainable post-purchase notice, cancellation as easy as sign-up and through every medium used to obtain consent, no obstruction or unreasonable delay, renewal notices 15 to 45 days ahead for qualifying longer-term plans, 5 to 30 days notice of a material change, and 3 to 21 days notice before the first chargeable period where a free gift or trial runs longer than a month. Article 29-BB carries exemptions, including for Department of Financial Services regulated entities, banks and credit unions, and alarm operators.

Does the $500,000 pay for the refunds?

No. Paragraph 103 requires the $500,000 to be paid by wire to the State of New York as penalties, within 60 days of the effective date. Restitution under paragraph 105 is a separate and additional obligation with no stated aggregate cap, funded by Bloomberg rather than drawn from the penalty payment.