Major FCC Study Shows Cable Bills Rising at 3X Inflation

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in internet on (#3M1)
story imageYou were wondering why your cable TV bill seems to be out of control? Because it is. That's the conclusion of a major FCC study that has just ended: the price of cable packages has been rising at triple the rate of inflation . From the study:
[B]asic cable prices increased by 6.5% throughout 2012 while expanded basic cable prices rose by 5.1% over the same period. In contrast, the general rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index throughout 2012 was just 1.6%, meaning that basic cable prices rose at more than four times the rate of inflation in 2012 while expanded basic cable prices rose by more than three times the rate of inflation.
Sound bad? It gets worse. Keep reading over at BGR , and then take the TechCrunch Four Step Plan for cutting the cord. Screw you, cable.
Reply 7 comments

Cable Costs Going Down (Score: 2, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-18 01:07 (#1PQ)

Just cut the cord. What's on cable that you need to watch? I can get almost everything I want to watch online either free or a la carte, with the minor exception of HBO since those idiots refuse to take my money. I'm happy to pay $2 for an episode, commercial free, when I want to watch it. I don't see how standard cable can ever hope to win against that.

Re: Cable Costs Going Down (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2014-05-18 03:02 (#1PR)

Indeed; Snip it. I've never subscribed to cable and don't own a TV.

For the few shows that I have watched, Netflix ships them to me in a little red envelop. Additional benefits are that the bluray quality exceeds the over-the-air broadcast, the episodes contain no advertisements, and I can watch the stuff at my own pace.

Everybody else is saying 4 times inflation... (Score: 1)

by unitron@pipedot.org on 2014-05-18 09:31 (#1Q0)

...but either way, the lion's share of that is what the "content providers" are charging the cable companies, who pass that cost on to the subscribers.

So despite whatever other perfectly valid reasons you might have for loathing, say Time-Warner Cable, for this you can mostly blame the company that no longer owns them, Time-Warner, along with Disney, NBC Universal (owned by Comcast), FOX, CBS, etc.

Re: Everybody else is saying 4 times inflation... (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-18 10:40 (#1Q2)

It's the more incendiary headline, and that's what people like to use now. But read the article and you'll see both are true.

Cut the cord (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-05-19 11:56 (#1QJ)

I cut it 4 tears ago, and it is amazing. I don't care about cable tv. I will not go back. I don't care if they even start to offer a-la-carte. They've lost me for good.

Re: Cut the cord (Score: 1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-05-19 18:59 (#1RE)

And yet you still cried a bit. :)

Still not enough cooking shows OTA IMO YMMV.

Re: Cut the cord (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-05-19 23:03 (#1RQ)

Yez, u can haz funy pointz

Seriously, that was very funny and clever sir. I tip my hat to you AC.