Increasing Rates For Services
Comcast® recently said their customers in the Houston area that they will be increasing rates for most of their cheap internet and cable TV products. The increased rates will be reflected in the January 2018 bill. Details of the increase in rates appeared in a notice that was provided with the last bill.
The monthly price increases by 4.50 dollars for the Digital Premier Service by Comcast®. The old price was 139.99 dollars and the new price will be 144.49 dollars. The price for two premium channels has increased by four dollars and has reached 24 dollars from 19.99 dollars. In addition, the rates of most standalone internet services have increased by two dollars.
It is also reported that the rate to rent cable modem is increasing from ten dollars to eleven dollars and the late fee will increase from 9.50 dollars to 10 dollars. Comcast® spokesperson Michael Bybee said that the increase in rates would not apply to users who have applied promotional rates or to those users who have negotiated the rates as per a contract. However, the rates will go up once the contract or promotional period expires.
On the notice provided with the December bills, Ralph Martinez, who is the Regional Senior Vice President of Comcast®, said that the prices are increasing as “the cost of doing business rises.”
“You may also be aware that we pay increasing programming fees to offer the best in entertainment, news and sports and they are among our largest costs,” the note says. Bybee also said that increase was originally planned for October 1, 2017. However, it was delayed due to the Hurricane Harvey.
High Speed Internet
“We postponed the original timing of the price change so we could all focus on recovery efforts from the devastating effects this city endured from Hurricane Harvey,” he said.
It is not just Comcast® raising the cable rates. AT&T® is also increasing prices for their DirecTV® services in January and the announcement about the same was made recently. AT&T® has increased range from 20 cents per month for some of the regional sports channels to eight dollars per month for the Ultimate Premier package of DirecTV®. AT&T® has not yet announced any hike in their internet rates.
Dish Network® is also planning to increase rates for their television services. It is reported that most of their channel bundles will go up by 5 dollars a month and the rate of their complete America’s Everything package will increase by 15 dollars.
