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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.
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.
A shame, but if they jack up my costs, I'll just pull the plug and get free HDTV from my HDTV antenna at 1080p resolution.
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Great, this is excellent for short-term revenue, which is all that matters.
Next, more commercials should be added.
Selling more commercials will increase revenue
Revenue will be increased with more commercials
Increasing commercials will increase revenue.
the ratio is too small.
5 mins of content, should require 2 min of commercials.
And the same commercial should be repeated at least twice.
the rental fees should also be increased.
also , pay per view fees should be increased.
people should be required to rent the cable box, the cable card, and the remote control, and the batteries for the remote. only authorized batteries should be able to be used.
heck, the tv should be rented as well, and should have a camera installed to ensure only authorized people watch, to prevent sharing.
You can buy a nice antenna.
If you want more content, you can get the slingtv app for way less than probably basic cable in your area.
You can toss in Netfltx and Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
The break even point is about 2 months of cable for all of the above.
I shudder to think what the last person on cable tv will be getting charged to mae up for all the cord-cutters.
Shouldn't they be raising Internet rates instead, since Internet service is needed by cord-cutters too? The other fees are avoided by cancelling cable.
Prices will increase until the cord cutting stops!
Yes, you'd get much better internet access under communism...
Criticism of certain aspects of capitalism != advocating a switch to communism
At least you had the sense to post A.C. to avoid owning your faulty logic.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Until they jack up the Internet access costs to cover people getting just internet and subscribing to streaming services...