This week the FCC will vote on forcing cable TV companies to include all the fees in its advertised price. This comes as in many areas, including where I live, Comcast has raised the price of its broadcast TV fee to $31.25 a month on top of the advertised price. You will also find in many areas a $9.10 RSN fee.
Those are not the only fees Comcast charges. Other fees include a regulatory cost recovery fee, rental fee, state universal service fund, franchise fee, federal universal service fund, and—if you live in California—there is a California public purpose fund.
Other costs include taxes and government fees like athletic Fee, federal excise tax, local utility user tax, public, educ, and government fee, state and local communication service taxes, gross receipts tax, sales tax, and state excise tax. These taxes and fees change depending on where you live and could, for example if you live in Colorado, include a Colorado Retail Delivery Fee.
When Comcast raised its fees last year, Comcast sent Cord Cutters News the following statement about these fees: “TV networks and other video programmers continue to raise their prices, with broadcast television and sports being the biggest drivers of increases in customers’ bills. We’re continuing to work hard to manage these costs for our customers while investing in our broadband network to provide the best, most reliable Internet service in the country and to give our customers more low-cost choices in video and connectivity so they can find a package that fits their lifestyle and budget.”
This means Comcast is adding $40.31 to many of its TV packages on top of the advertised price. So that $70 TV package that offers 125+ channels will cost you more than $110 a month once they add in the RSN and broadest TV fee. You still need to add the other fees.
In 2017, broadcast TV fees with Comcast cost just $8 a month. They have more than tripled over the last six years. Sadly, it doesn’t look like the cost of these fees will be going down anytime soon.
Over the course of a year, RSN and broadcast TV fees will add up to an extra $483.72 to your Comcast Xfinity TV bill.
So, with fees like this you can understand why many companies are unhappy about having to fully disclose these fees.
You can see a full list of all fees Comcast charges on its website HERE.
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