Charter to raise cable rates, blames increase in expenses

Charter Communications blames the increased cost of doing business for its plan to increase cable television rates, which will take effect in the Cape Girardeau area Dec. 27.

Charter outlined the rate increases in a Nov. 27 letter to the Cape Girardeau County Commission.

"Charter, like many other businesses, has incurred increased operating costs, such as programming expenses, insurance, utility and fuel," said Eddie Trower, Charter's manager of government relations.

The most popular package, which includes basic and expanded basic, will see a rate increase of $2, pushing the price up from $49.99 to $51.99 a month. That's about a 4 percent increase. But Charter is doubling the cost of two digital packages, the movie tier and the family and information tier, to $10. The movie tier includes about 16 channels, Trower said, and the family and information tier includes about 40 channels.

Trower said those who buy individual tiers instead of packages could see larger increases than $10, but most people will see about a $5 increase. Even the largest package, which includes all of Charter's available channels, will see a $5 increase from $73.99 to $78.99.

"The reason is that we're seeing an increase in programming expenses as well as gas and other general expenses," Trower said. "We pay a fee to those channels for being able to air them. That's one of our biggest expenses."

Charter last raised rates a year ago. Trower said the company doesn't make that decision lightly. "It's tough," he said. "We know it's hard for our customers. But, again, we can only absorb so much cost."

Rates for Charter's Internet service are also expected to go up, but Trower said he didn't know how much. A letter will be sent to the commission with that announcement soon, he said.

Dr. Don Jung, a Southeast Missouri State University professor and member of the city's Cable Television Advisory Committee, said he wasn't surprised to learn of the rate increases.

"They'll tell you the price of programming has gone up," Jung said. "That's a standard response of theirs. But I knew they were probably going to go up. It was just a matter of when and how much."

The city committee has no authority to block rate increases. The committee is just an advisory committee, Jung said. But he warned Charter that it should be cautious about continuing to raise rates.

"If rates just keep going up and up and up, you wonder when it will reach a saturation point and people start to look elsewhere," he said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137