Yesterday, the FCC released its annual report on
average rates that cable operators charge for delivery of basic service,
programming, and equipment. In spite of
cable cutting and shaving, and increased competition from alternative video delivery
devices, cable rates are UP. The main culprits,
once again, are significantly higher programming costs and retransmission fees
for broadcast stations.
Here’s a snapshot:
Price comparison of basic service and the most popular
tier of cable programming in 2014.
Price comparison of basic service and the most popular tier
of cable programming in 2014.
|
|
Monthly Price
|
Change from 2013
|
Price/channel
|
|
All systems
|
$69.03
|
2.7% increase
|
$0.456
|
|
Systems with Effective Competition*
|
$70.31
|
2.0% increase
|
$0.412
|
|
Systems without Effective Competition
|
$67.85
|
3.3% increase
|
$0.497
|
*2/3rd
of all findings of effective competition include DBS (characterized by larger
systems with more channels)
Between 2013 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index
declined by 0.1%, yet the average annual amount paid for retransmission by a
cable system increased by more than 63% ($7.8M to $12.7M).
In 2004, we paid, on average, $43.04 for 70.5
channels. Ten years later, we had access
to 2.5 times more channels (70.5 to 181+).
Over that same period, the compound average annual rate of change in the
price of expanded cable was 4.8% (compared to 2% for the overall CPI).
Here’s the full report: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db1012/DA-16-1166A1.pdf
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