Cable Prices Set to Increase

SOURCE: TVPredictions.com; November 22, 2006

Is Comcast Raising Monthly Rates? Citing more high-def channels, the cable operator tells Washington state residents that a price hike is coming.

Washington, D.C. (November 22, 2006) -- Comcast has notified some customers in Washington state that their monthly cable bills will soon increase by an average of 6.5 percent.

In the past, Comcast has first tipped off plans to raise monthly fees nationally by revealing a price hike in a few regions. The news of the Washington state rate increase was reported today by the Daily Herald in Everett, Washington.

The newspaper reported that Comcast will increase the monthly cable TV bill there by an average of $3.09 -- about 6.5 percent -- beginning January 1

Comcast officials in Washington cited the addition of more services, including High-Definition TV, as a reason for the price hike.

"We've more than doubled the amount of viewing choices for customers who now have the most HDTV and VOD (video-on-demand) viewing options with 100 hours of HD on demand and nearly 7,000 video on demand titles each month," said Steve Kipp, a Comcast vice president of communications.

Kipp said customers would soon get notices in the mail with a breakdown of price increases for specific services.