If you’re a Comcast subscriber, it’s not the most wonderful time of the year: the cable giant is raising its rates again.
In a move subscribers have seen before — most recently in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 — Comcast’s TV service will see big fee increases in the fine print it doesn’t advertise, while rates in large print for its high throughput will increase by a lesser amount.
Comcast didn’t provide specific numbers for the TV fee hikes, but reporter Phillip Swann, who covers video business on the TV Answer Man site, reported numbers for select markets last week.
For example, he linked to a copy of a letter Comcast sent to the Board of Selectmen in Sandown, NH, which increased the TV broadcast fee from $24.95 to $27.25 per month, sports fees regional from $11.85 to $12.
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Some regions hit harder by TV and internet bill inflation
Inflation was much worse in other markets, with subscribers in Taunton, Mass., seeing their TV streaming costs skyrocket from $18.65 to $26 a month.
Broadcast and sports royalties reflect the higher prices demanded of television providers by two popular categories of channels: local stations and regional sports networks.
“TV networks and other video programmers continue to raise prices, with TV and sports being the primary drivers of rising customer bills,” Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Gatta said in a statement. sent by email.
Comcast’s broadband rates are also increasing by $3 per month on all speed tiers for Internet-only subscribers, though customers who also pay for TV won’t see the increase.
Comcast is also raising its cable modem rental fee from $14 to $15, a form of Internet inflation you can avoid by buying your own modem.
Why is Comcast raising rates on high-speed Internet, cable?
Moyer’s statement attributed the rise in broadband prices to the cost of “investing in our broadband network to provide the best and most reliable internet service in the country,” but did not explain why the increase did not have affected subscribers who pay for broadband as well as TV.
Comcast Chief Financial Officer Michael Cavanaugh invited other theories during the company’s latest quarterly earnings call, when he said the company would focus on earning more revenue per subscriber at the top. flow now that she’s not seeing huge increases in customer sign-ups.
That revenue reported Oct. 27 showed Comcast’s broadband growth stalled — its residential base of 29.84 million barely budged from its fiscal first quarter — while video subscribers continue a rush. outlets that left Comcast with 15.97 million residential TV accounts.
But this Philadelphia company continues to see high profit margins which it estimated at 45.1% after subtracting various expenses.
AT&T and Charter’s Spectrum are also raising their rates
Other broadband providers have imposed their own rate hikes in recent months.
Charter — doing business as Spectrum, it’s the second-largest cable company after Comcast — increased broadband plans by $5 a month in October. And AT&T raised its rates by $3 a month in May.
Consumers support rate hikes
A telecommunications industry analyst suggested that Comcast would likely get away with rate increases that don’t jump too obviously on the bill.
“Comcast subscribers may complain about higher bills, but most will tolerate them, blaming higher prices on headline inflation,” wrote Tammy Parker, principal analyst at research firm GlobalData. “It’s important to note that automatic payment often makes customers oblivious to relatively small price increases.”
Rob Pegoraro is a Technical Writer based in Washington, DC To submit a technical question, email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/robpegoraro.
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