The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
By Alexander Soule
It came as a welcome surprise for new Altice USA customers entering 2018 after the company chopped $10 off its cable TV installation fees in Connecticut even as it dangled for their consideration a newfangled box for the home.
As for Altice USA’s existing customers? The $10 in extra monthly surcharges they absorbed last year was a most unwelcome development — but they have plenty of company in TV dens across Connecticut.
Despite ongoing defections by pay TV subscribers to “over the top” rivals that feed TV programming outside the cable hierarchy, traditional carriers continue to tack on extra charges in Connecticut. In some cases, they are doing so by inflating base rates on select packages; in others, via fees they did not levy previously, including surcharges in the wake of new contracts with content providers such as ESPN and CBS.
Cox Communications becomes the latest to hike rates starting in March after disclosing this month price increases across multiple TV packages it offers in nearly 20 towns in central Connecticut, including a $3 monthly increase in its “Cox Economy” offering that represents a 9 percent increase from the $35 customers currently pay.
In a letter to the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Cox’s head government affairs manager in Connecticut justified the bumps in part on increased costs for programming from CBS and others, while referencing overall inflation in the industry.
“While Cox absorbs as much as these price increases as possible, a portion has to be passed to the consumer,” stated Peter Talbot in a Feb. 8 letter to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. “We are in a competitive business and we work to keep our prices as low as possible. … Cox is not the only service provider raising costs, and our retail prices remain extremely competitive.”