fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to jagged
Re: [Cable] That time again! Comcast to raise rate said by jagged:didn't Comcast post some amazing profits not too long ago? And yet even with price increases, they still see growth in subscribers each year. Go figure.
As for those "amazing profits" - you think those 70 million per city expense in upgrades to ADS, or VOD, or DVRs come for free?
ADS - An expensive rollout, and doesn't bring in any more money. Sounds like a price hike is in order.
VOD - a great new service and many people like, use, and enjoy the service. It didn't come without expense. Sounds like a price his is in order. (And I don't care if you are the hand full of people that have experienced issues with VOD, call customer service and get it fixed. You are in a small minority)
DVR - a box that has gone through it's 3rd revision and 3rd purchase by comcast (4th revision in some areas). Those boxes cost the company about $500 to $600 a piece. They get $9.95 a month. You do the math. In all honesty? In this case, if the other guys weren't launching DVR, neither would the likes of Comcast. There is no profit in DVR right now. It's going to take about 5 years to see profits on those - that's based on the box cost alone. It doesn't take into consideration the amount of marketing, printed material, customer service calls/time from the bad batches of boxes, and truck roles for service calls when the customer can't figure out how to set a program? Or the $30.00 price to install the box when it cost about $80 to role the truck in the first place?
All most of you guys know is what you see on your bill. You don't see the loss to provide some services which is why others go up to compensate. No one likes to pay high bills when it comes to ANYTHING - so a little suggestion, if your bill is too high? cut back. You DON'T need a DVR. You DON'T need premium services, you DON'T need the 8mg tier of HSI, etc. Cut back. Prices for services in trend go up even with competition. Be a responsible customer and buy what you can afford. If you don't like the price of cable? choose another option. At minimum, you have two alternatives.
I don't know what's worse, the annual price increases from the cable companies (which I agree does suck a little but I know I am getting more because of them) or the fact that we have to read all these forum topics from people who are "shocked" or "surprised" that it's happening again - it's nothing different that saying "it's winter again and it's cold" or the "sky is blue". |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL | Fiberguy, I agree with everything you say except for one thing. You say that VOD warrants a price increase but whenever it's out for multiple days Comcast will not credit you because it's a "free" service. So it's not fair to customers to on one hand say we are raising your rates because of great new services like VOD but on the other hand won't credit you when that same service is experiencing an outage.
They took the entire system offline in SE Florida last Saturday while they finish repairs and said they expect to have it back up by the end of the year. |
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1 edit | reply to fiberguy
Comcast had to get those PVR boxes out there to consumers. If they didn’t, Dish or DTV would of still had a clear field advantage with the PVR boxes. They were taking away Comcast’s customer with the lure of the Free-$50 boxes. Comcast rushed these boxes out and quality took a dive. The interface is the worst in the market. The original Replaytv even had a better interface.
Even if Comcast is taking a hit in the hardware cost, it’s a must. The Xbox 360 is an example of the same thing. The software and licensing is where they are going to be raking in the dough. Comcast is banking on the same. They will raise rates elsewhere and point to the pvr as a value. Walmart/Fry's has mastered the art. They will put out an item at a loss to lure customers in. |
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 JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
 ·Verizon FiOS
| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:As for those "amazing profits" - you think those 70 million per city expense in upgrades to ADS, or VOD, or DVRs come for free? Maybe the upgrades should be subsidized by those who want the features. Rates for analog cable are rising at double the rate of inflation. Do analog only subscribers benefit from any of these upgrades, or are they just expected to pay for the upgrades so digital subscribers can benefit? |
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 celeritypcFor Lucky Best Wash, Use Mr. SparklePremium
join:2004-05-15
Caldwell, NJ | said by JTRockville:Maybe the upgrades should be subsidized by those who want the features. Rates for analog cable are rising at double the rate of inflation. Do analog only subscribers benefit from any of these upgrades, or are they just expected to pay for the upgrades so digital subscribers can benefit? I don't ask to support the high salaries of athletes and the expensive deals to carry sporting events yet I am forced to pay for them. Sports programming is the most expensive and has the highest annual increase in cost but people continue to accept it. |
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| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:And yet even with price increases, they still see growth in subscribers each year. Go figure. That depends on which numbers you look at. There is little doubt that Comcast has made gains in what they call Revenue Generating Units (a customer that subscribes to basic cable, digital cable, HSI, and CDV accounts for 4 Revenue Generating Units) due to the addition of HSI and Digital Cable subs. Basic cable penetration continues its downhill slide and Comcast has not seen a quarterly net gain in basic cable subs since 4Q04. As of September 30, Comcast showed a net loss of 139,000 basic cable subscribers for calendar 2005 in spite of passing 600,000 additional homes.
My read on the numbers is that Comcast is able to make more money from less individual customers. |
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JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to celeritypc
said by celeritypc:Sports programming is the most expensive and has the highest annual increase in cost but people continue to accept it. That's true, but sports programming alone doesn't explain the astronomically high increases on the price of analog cable either. Satellite providers incur increasing costs for sports programming too, yet satellite prices don't increase at double the rate of inflation. |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to Zoder
It IS a free service, however, there is still equipment and labor cost to build and maintain the service. Again, you don't look at the whole picture. Money had to be spend to deliver the service. |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to JTRockville
Analog networks are rasing their rates... (Forx news raised their rate from about .25 cents to $1.00 just because of their ratings.. You can't blame cable. |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to JTRockville
said by JTRockville:said by celeritypc:Sports programming is the most expensive and has the highest annual increase in cost but people continue to accept it. That's true, but sports programming alone doesn't explain the astronomically high increases on the price of analog cable either. Satellite providers incur increasing costs for sports programming too, yet satellite prices don't increase at double the rate of inflation. Satellite may have contracts still in effect which locks in their rates.. It's also probably why they still have lower prices. Wait until the renewal comes to paly.. their prices will sjy rocket as high as their birds! |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to J D McDorce
said by J D McDorce:said by fiberguy:And yet even with price increases, they still see growth in subscribers each year. Go figure. That depends on which numbers you look at. There is little doubt that Comcast has made gains in what they call Revenue Generating Units (a customer that subscribes to basic cable, digital cable, HSI, and CDV accounts for 4 Revenue Generating Units) due to the addition of HSI and Digital Cable subs. Basic cable penetration continues its downhill slide and Comcast has not seen a quarterly net gain in basic cable subs since 4Q04. As of September 30, Comcast showed a net loss of 139,000 basic cable subscribers for calendar 2005 in spite of passing 600,000 additional homes. My read on the numbers is that Comcast is able to make more money from less individual customers. A basic and digital customer are counted differently. BASIC is going down, but digital is going up. If an analog customer moves to digital, they loose an analog.basic customer but gain a digitail. Most customers are brought in on a digital plan..... make sense now?
These facts and figues that the average person (people here) read doesn't go into all the details on what makes a number in the world of cable/satellite. |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
1 edit | reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:It IS a free service, however, there is still equipment and labor cost to build and maintain the service. Again, you don't look at the whole picture. Money had to be spend to deliver the service. It's free in the sense that it's not an itemized charge on the bill. But it would be naive to think that the labor and equipment costs are not factored into the prices charged for Digital Cable. Brian Roberts himself says that part of the reason cable costs more than satellite is because of the value it offers with services like VOD.
I think where we disagree is you feel customers should not be credited when VOD is down for an extended period of time because it is not an add-on charge, while I feel a partial credit is warranted since the charges are factored into the base rate. |
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4 edits | reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:It IS a free service, however, there is still equipment and labor cost to build and maintain the service. Again, you don't look at the whole picture. Money had to be spend to deliver the service. Labor cost? My brother use to work for Comcast years ago. He didn't last long because of the pay. He told me Comcast employee's were the lowest paid of most cable provider companies. He now works for one of Walmart's warehouses driving a forklift. He told me he makes more money driving a forklift then working for Comcast. So its highly unlikely Comcast been raising their rates once or twice a year just to pay their workers.If they been raising rates the last 30 yrs here every 6 month for new equipment.Why come most people here complains their digital cable too snowy and fuzzy? My off air channels comes in much sharper then their digital cable. And lets not forget about Verizon FIOS. Now they spending billons and billons of dollars wiring United States for fiber optic wire. And also paying their workers almost double what Comcast workers make. And yet their monthly rates much cheaper then Comcast. Comcast like to use every excuse in the book to squeeze more money out of us. "Oh, sorry, but we have to do another rate 7% increase to cover the cost adding a new Pepsi machine in our break room". |
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JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:Satellite may have contracts still in effect which locks in their rates.. It's also probably why they still have lower prices. Wait until the renewal comes to paly.. their prices will sjy rocket as high as their birds! That's doubtful - there isn't any evidence to back up your speculation. Historically, satellite rate increases have been in line with inflation. |
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3 edits | reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy 
[/bquote :Satellite may have contracts still in effect which locks in their rates.. It's also probably why they still have lower prices. Wait until the renewal comes to paly.. their prices will sjy rocket as high as their birds! WOW, thought I heard everything. LOL Man he really is reaching deep! Either that or fear of being laid off. With Direct TV, DISH,Verizon FIOS, Verizon DSL,Bell DSL and other cable providers moving in. Its nothing like the old days when Comcast was mainly the soul provider for cable TV and high speed internet in most cities. So I understand why he made that comment. |
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| I concur topgun68. Although I don't think comcast will just sit back and do nothing, they'll have to lower rates and improve their services in order to compete effectively. Because if that 15/2 HSI stays at $44.95, as well as the 180 channel package for $39.95 then, I can see myself highly considering both. Heck if they can do the 30/5 plan for $54.95 like they are doing in some OOL areas, then that will still be a major value.
Competition brings out the best in companies. 
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BBR Member since August 2003Previously as tvfanatic/comcastfan1 |
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| said by comcastnj15:I concur topgun68. Although I don't think comcast will just sit back and do nothing, they'll have to lower rates and improve their services in order to compete effectively. Because if that 15/2 HSI stays at $44.95, as well as the 180 channel package for $39.95 then, I can see myself highly considering both. Heck if they can do the 30/5 plan for $54.95 like they are doing in some OOL areas, then that will still be a major value. Competition brings out the best in companies. Very true statment. I couldn't agree more. |
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| Article about Chicago rate increases
»www.suntimes.com/output/business···t26.html
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BBR Member since August 2003Previously as tvfanatic/comcastfan1 |
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1 edit | reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:A basic and digital customer are counted differently. BASIC is going down, but digital is going up. If an analog customer moves to digital, they loose an analog.basic customer but gain a digitail. Most customers are brought in on a digital plan..... make sense now? Interesting spin, but that isn't how Comcast reports their numbers. If they accounted for subs in the manner that you describe, Comcast could have claimed to have nearly 31 million "cable" customers at the end of 3Q05. Their 3Q05 release clearly states 21.4 million cable customers. Placing the number of basic video subscribers in the denominator of their Digital Penetration rate calculation (as well as statements such as digital cable penetration reached 44.1% of basic subscribers) also adds insight into their bookkeeping.
If an existing basic sub adds digital, the basic sub count remains the same and the digital sub count increases by one. |
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1 edit | reply to comcastnj15
Oh Yippee, another Comcast rate increase. Doesnt surprise me now a days. Kind of expect it from them. LOL |
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