Daily Archives May 10, 2019

As streaming video continues to chip away at cable TV subscriber numbers, Comcast is making some of its Internet speed increases available only to customers that pay for both Internet and video service.

Last week, Comcast announced speed increases for customers in Houston and the Oregon/SW Washington areas. The announcement headlines were “Comcast increases Internet speeds for some video customers.”

Customers with 60Mbps Internet download speeds are being upped to 150Mbps; 150Mbps subscribers are going to 250Mbps; and 250Mbps subscribers are getting a raise to 400Mbps or 1Gbps.

Comcast says speed increases will kick in automatically without raising the customers’ monthly bills—but only if they subscribe to certain bundles that include both Internet and TV service.

“Cord cut...

Another year, another increase to your monthly pay-TV bill.

Giants including Comcast Corp., Dish Network Corp. and AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV plan to raise 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.

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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.”

It’s common for pay-TV providers to raise prices in the new year...

Six years ago this month, my household gave up cable TV. We’d been handing over more than $1,600 a year for AT&T’s U-verse service, and in the first year of being cable-free, we spent less than $600 to watch TV.

If you were a cord-cutter looking to save some cash back then, life was good. Today, while it remains possible to spend a lot less on TV, costs are mounting, particularly if you want to keep a cable-like bundle of channels to watch. Two stories from the past week hammer that home.

On Wednesday, Google’s YouTube TV announced a price increase, taking the service from $40 to $50 a month...