The Average Cable Bill Has Increased More Than 50 Percent Since 2010 (streamingobserver.com)

According to new research, the average cost households pay for cable is now up to $107 a month -- that's a 50% increase since 2010 when cable bills were $71.24 a month. When compared to last year, it's only a 1% increase, "thanks in large part to increasing fees for things like regional sports licensing and taxes," reports Streaming Observer. From the report: Leichtman Research Group's data was gathered through a telephone survey of 1,152 households from throughout the United States. The research found that 78% of American households still subscribe to a paid TV subscription. That percentage is down from 86% in 2013, 87% in 2008, and 81% in 2004, but 78% is still a pretty high figure given how high cable costs continue to rise each year and how affordable streaming video services are in comparison.

Comments

Bye-Bye Comcast

[prisoner-of-enigma]

I was paying right at $200/mo for Comcast XFinity. About half that was for 150Mbit (downstream) Internet with no data cap (that's extra, of course). The other half was for STANDARD DEFINITION basic cable.

I'd happily have taken Google Fiber if it were available but AT&T GigaPower got here first. Now I have 1000Mbit down/800mbit up, HD cable channels (and many more than Comcast offered), three set-top boxes (only one with Comcast), and a DVR (none included with Comcast)...all for only $80/mo.

Is it any wonder people are ditching traditional cable companies?

Re:Life sucks for poor people in the US

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry- but it's your own undoing. There are lots of jobs in the US and the low end the spectrum that pay sufficiently to cover the basics. If you live in silicon valley and make six figures and are bitching about being poor I have no sympathy for you. MOVE! Get up on your two legs and migrate someplace cheaper to live. Wilmington, NC or pretty much anywhere in southern New Hampshire has both jobs, cheap housing, and a good life waiting for you. You can literally buy a house for something like $50,000 in NH in places that are pretty nice and have low-skill or no-skill jobs available. I know a lot of people here with $13 / hour jobs. People working at walmart even for christ sake and have houses, cars, cell phones, and a life. You don't have to suffer. If you do suffer it's your own undoing.

Re:Average cable internet bill has gone down 100%

[Anonymous Coward]

so thank you to all the fucking 'cord cutters' that raised the rates for everybody else.

our bill went from $110 with all the premiums and extra tiers and '1 tier higher than slowest' internet to $140 with NO premiums, no extra tiers, about a dozen LESS channels in the base package than there used to be, and slowest-available internet.

so $30 more for less, and 15x4 + 10x2 + 5 + 20 = $105 for what we gave up = $135 + 110 = $245 to get what we had. that's well over 100% increase since 2005 when we had to start downgrading services.

Not my cable bill.

[Hallux-F-Sinister]

My cable bill has decreased 100 percent in the same interval of time. I like it that way. Pink Floyd said it best: I’ve got thirteen channels of shit on the TV to choose from.

That’s about how many I get over the air. But whenever I go somewhere where they have cable, I find that there’s a larger selection but it’s just as much shit as the dozen or so air channels I can pick up with rabbit ears. So why pay extra for... more shit?

Thanks to ATSC, the channels I CAN pull down are pretty clear; although I never watch them. I just leave it hooked up there because I already own it and in case the shit hits the fan and I have no internet... in inclement weather, for example, I have the ability to watch news broadcasts. I don’t thinks I’m missing out on anything actually worth watching. Also, I have an extensive po...er... um... DVD collection.

Otherwise, I just pay the 15 a month for HBO GO when they’re airing Game of Thrones, and leave it off the rest of the time.

Re:How Do Poor People Afford Internet?

[DanDD]

I have an Amazon Prime account, and between that and Youtube and PirateBay I don't see the need to buy cable.

^^^^^ THIS :)

I cancelled my cable TV subscription and discovered I have a WIFE!? We started talking more, playing board games, card games, and taking the dog for walks together.

Damn, she's an interesting human. Fortunately I've realized what a soul-sucking waste of time television is before either one of us died of ennui.

Re:Cable companies are just passing on cost

[sabbede]

Then there is something wrong in the market. Cable companies should not be willing to accept and pass on the kind of cost increases you describe. They really shouldn't be in that position at all. What are the content companies charging cable companies for anyway? They make money off advertising or subscriptions, so the more homes their content goes to the more valuable their ad time. By all rights, they should be paying cable companies to bring their ads to our homes, not the other way around. Having your content run on cable TV means you don't need a nationwide network of broadcast towers to sell adds that run in all our homes, yet somehow their savings get passed on to us as increased cost? That's not right.

Re:How Do Poor People Afford Internet?

[DanDD]

Yeah, lately it's been Catan, which isn't very good for just 2 players, but we get lots of practice in order to decimate our children and their significant others for when we all visit during the holidays. The kids don't watch much television either as they are rather active and socially well adjusted, and always rather busy.

On one recent game I played nothing but development cards and the robber, and won handily. The wife was so pissed I damn near had to leave the house for a while, and the dog was traumatized. That was a good game, for me :)

Our big family games usually descent into winners vs losers arm wrestling matches, pull-up competitions with taunting and talking smack, lots of dead-arm shoulder punching, and obligatory shots of tequila. The bruising usually fades by Easter.

Your idea of board games must be the kind that pacifists play, where everyone is happy, there's no strife, taunting, or name calling. Either way, sitting face to face with other humans is something that I suspect you haven't had enough of, based on your response. Try it, it might mellow out your temperament a bit. I'd invite you over, but I'm afraid you'd just get injured.