The cost of a standard package will exceed $40 per month in some cities

[My cable bill is already over $40. I have no premium channels, of course, just "basic" and "standard." "Basic" is, more or less, the alphabet channels--and who needs cable for that??? Standard is most of the rest minus premiums. This is a huge scam. We know the technology is available for people to choose and receive only what channels they want. A charge could be made for each one. What the cable companies do is add all these "make work" channels that few people watch, giving work to the people who work for those channels (owned by cable companies if you look closely???) and forcing the rest of us to buy stuff we don't want. After we move, I shall seriously consider getting a dish or giving up cable altogether. Forty bucks for Fox is too much.]

By Janet Adamy CONTRA COSTA TIMES

The price of the Bay Area's most popular cable television package will break the $40 mark in a number of East Bay cities when AT&T Broadband raises its rates next year.

The Bay Area's largest cable provider plans to hike the price of what it calls "standard cable" an average of 6.5 percent, or $2.14 per month, at the beginning of the year. That ups the average monthly cost to $38.38 for the more than 800,000 customers in the Bay Area who get that service. Standard service includes basic channels (such as the local network affiliates) plus extras such as ESPN, CNN, CNBC, MTV, and dozens more, but does not include premium channels like HBO.

But in Pleasant Hill, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Hercules and parts of Walnut Creek, the cost of that service will inch just above $40 to as high as $41.50 in those East County cities.

The cost of packages that offer premium services -- which include channels like HBO -- will rise an average of $4.50 per month to prices that range from $39.99 to about $72.99. The cost of the cable company's basic service -- its most Spartan package -- will fall an average of 6 cents per month to $13.53.

The price hikes take effect Jan. 1 in most East Bay cities. Next year's price hike comes on top of an increase of 5.6 percent in rates for this year.

Andrew Johnson, a spokesman for AT&T Broadband, said the company is raising rates this year to offset the rising cost of conducting business in the Bay Area, investing in technology upgrades and improving customer service.

"We see the impact of those costs just like everybody else does," Johnson said. He added that the rising costs of programming also contributed to the hike.

One consumer-advocacy group disagrees. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, said the costs of upgrades and programming are more than covered by the increase in cable revenues from advertising, pay-per-view services and cable modem services.

"There is no reason for the exorbitant rate hikes we see year after year," said David Butler, a spokesman for Consumers Union.

Johnson said the increase is not tied to AT&T Broadband's recent merger with cable giant Comcast.

News of the rate increases, which first surfaced Saturday in newspaper legal advertisements, has not prompted an increase in consumer calls to the company's centers, Johnson said. AT&T Broadband has 1.6 million customers in the Bay Area.

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2002