Comcast to Raise Prices For TV, Internet In January

Comcast is raising prices on video and Internet service by approximately three  percent, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The increase, which will be added to subscriber bills in January, is necessary due to the escalating costs of acquiring programming, the company said. Comcast has raised prices at least once a year for the last several years, usually stating the same reason.

“Rising programming costs continue to drive the highest increase in customers’ bills. We’re working hard to manage these costs,” Comcast said in a statement

DIRECTV and Dish recently implemented price increases as well and the two satcasters also blamed rising programming costs. While the cause for the increase may sound like a broken record, programmers and networks have dramatically increased their carriage fees over the last several years. The fee hikes have pushed pay TV providers to raise subscriber rates, which in turn has led to a sharp increase in subscriber defections. (See our story on how programming costs have triggered a massive subscriber decline by DIRECTV.)

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