Yes, Your Cable Bill Is Going to Go Up
January 10, 2010 by tisha
On average, digital cable subscribers pay 75 a month, with some subscribers paying upwards of $100 just to access the regular stations. Price hikes of 5% a year are not unusual but as it stands for consumer now, your bill will continue to rise with no caps in site.
Cable companies have to make up for losses in other places so they pass them along to the customer. Advertising is down at the networks and providers of cable television face tough competition from satellite providers and evolving technology, like high-definition television and on-demand programming. Plus, web-based television that is typically cheap or even free are becoming an issue for cable provider’s bottom line.
Providers are taking the stance that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that is costly and that consumers aren’t thinking about the cost the providers have to invest. The cost to broadcast network shows are going up so providers need to charge a bit extra across the board on cable bills.
Time Warner Cable has announced an impending increase of 5-7% for 2010 and other cable companies will likely follow suite. Even DirecTV is looking at an increase of about 3.5%. Part of the increase is due to the broadcast rates and part is due to the effects of the recession.
Web-based television is also causing providers to lose customers because currently many of the most popular shows are available on the Internet on sites like Hulu.com, which play shows from ABC, NBC, and Fox. iTunes,com is also offering show for download. Other outlets, like Netflix.com offer consumers DVD versions of popular television series.
There is a strong likelihood that the free material won’t be free for very long since broadcasters are asking for fees for network-related content. Those providing free shows will likely have to pass the cost on to their own customers and ‘free TV’ on the web will be a thing of the past. Advertisers on broadcast networks are also not happy about the web access for popular shows. For them, it is hard to predict the future of commercials with so much competitive technology.
While all of the hoopla continues and prices continue to increase, the evolvement of technology will also continue to have its effect on how things are done and how much consumers pay for television for the long haul. There may be technology on the horizon that will completely change how business is done and how much of an impact it will have on consumer’s monthly bills.
Related Websites - Don’t Let Bank Fees Consume Your Bank Accounts When tightening the belt around their finances, you probably look high and low for ways to trim excess expenses from your budget. Popular ways to...
- 6 + 1 Steps for How to Increase Blog Traffic Having access to the right tips and hints for how to increase blog traffic can really come in handy. The more tips and tools that...
- Lightyear Wireless Review - Business Opportunity Have you ever wondered why over half the world's wealth is owned by the richest two percent of people? Have you ever wondered why the...
- The VoIP Telephone Services Revolution Ever since the birth of the internet, entrepreneurs with an eye to the future have predicted that voice communications -- telephone services -- would eventually...
- Forex, Futures and Stock Market Research Free Training and Resources Whether you are doing Forex, futures, or stock market research, the process can be time consuming and expensive. Therefore I've made it a policy to...