AT&T, Dish, Comcast All Raising Cable TV Rates To Counter Cord-Cutting (dallasnews.com)

AT&T's DirecTV, Dish, and Comcast are all planning to raise their rates again in the new year, "a move that could boost revenue but risks alienating subscribers who have been ditching their traditional TV subscriptions in record numbers," reports Dallas News. From the report: Cable and satellite providers are hoping to squeeze more money from consumers who remain loyal to their packages with hundreds of channels, Philip Cusick, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, said in a note this week, even though "this strategy could accelerate video sub declines." The latest price increases come as cord-cutting accelerates. In the third quarter, the TV industry saw its largest ever rate of decline, with subscribers shrinking by 3.7 percent, according to MoffettNathanson LLC. Consumers are dropping traditional TV for lower-cost online options like Netflix Inc. and slimmer TV options from Hulu and YouTube.

DirecTV is raising rates on all English-language video packages by $3 to $8 a month while hiking fees for regional sports networks by $1 to $1.90 in most markets. Dish said it's increasing prices for English-language video packages by $3 to $5 a month. Altice USA, the fourth-largest cable operator, recently raised rates by 3 percent on Optimum subscribers. Comcast, the largest U.S. cable company, is raising its fee for regional sports networks by $1.50 on average and its fee for broadcast channels by $2 a month, according to Cusick. Charter Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. cable provider, recently boosted its monthly fee for a set-top box by about 50 cents and its broadcast channel fee by about $1. Charter operates as Spectrum in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Comments

Re:Fuck'n Shhh

[wolfheart111]

Goddamnit man... lol

Re:We need Obamacable

[Spamalope]

Basic cable will be redefined as Cable Gold whose cost will double. Plans with more channels will be dubbed luxury products and be assessed a couch potato tax. It will be marketed as a plan to stop excessive cable company charges.

monthly_cost = target_revenue / num_of_subscribers

[misnohmer]

Now I get why my Comcast bill (back in the days when I still used cable) kept increasing every months - it's all those cord cutters reducing the num_of_subscribers in the formula!

I wonder how long before they hit Division By Zero exception?

Re: Guess I'll be cancelling my creimer then

[Anonymous Coward]

Prices will increase until the cord cutting stops!

Re:Shouldn't they be...

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Here is a full count of all the cord cutters that have ever changed their mind and gone back to paying for cable-TV: 0.

No, wait, back in 2012 there was that guy in North Dakota who couldn't figure how to plug his Amazon Firestick into the toaster, and he did in fact go back to cable. But aside from that guy, your list is complete.

Personally, I dumped cable about 20 years ago and never missed it.

Re:I was surprised how many channels over the air

[Anonymous Coward]

10-12 of which are in English...so triple of when you were a child!

Re: I was surprised how many channels over the air

[Anonymous Coward]

You are right, learning a second language is not likely to help you.

Re: Lol there is some truth to that

[StikyPad]

Seems like you totally won that battle. Reminds me of this one time I put cyanide on the pizza and pretended like I loved being starved of oxygen so that nobody else would eat it. Unfortunately Little Joe thought I was bluffing, so his last meal came with a healthy dose of crow. Not enough to counteract the cyanide, mind, but enough for me to notice his regret before we both succumbed to drowning out of water. Some things you gotta teach the hard way.