Spectrum is quietly raising the rates for some of its services, the second time in less than six months that it is rolling out a price hike.
The cable company, owned by Charter Communications, sent a notification to some customers warning them of the increase. Noteworthy is another increase to the Spectrum Internet Assist, which is the company’s low-income affordable internet program. It will go up by 25% to $24.99 a month. The company confirmed the increases to Cord Cutters News, and said they would take effect on customer statements beginning January 30.
“We have taken a stand for a new, customer-focused model that provides more value and choice for video entertainment when negotiating all of our programming agreements,” said a Charter spokesman. “Despite these ongoing efforts, programmers continually raise fees for their content, which are passed through as increased fees to viewers and drive higher costs across the entire industry.”
The increase comes after 2023 saw a wave of price hikes across the board, with streaming services and cable TV companies alike charging more amid inflation. In July, Spectrum raised the price of its TV, internet and phone services, with phone and internet going up by $5 a month each. At the time, it also blamed programming costs for the increase.
Spectrum said the broadcast TV surcharge, which just went up by $1 in July, will increase from $23.20 to $25.75 a month. The fee to rent an HD Box will increase from $10.99 to $12.50 a month. The charge for Advanced WiFi will increase by $2 to $7 a month. Its Entertainment View and Latino View packages will each increase by $3 to $15 a month.
Spectrum TV Essentials, its live streaming service, will increase by $5 to $29.99 a month.
On Spectrum Internet Assist, the company said the price increase comes after the company increased the speed of the service. “This significant speed enhancement — which we will apply to all Spectrum Internet Assist customers automatically — comes with a modest price increase,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman also noted that the increase for Advanced Wi-Fi is a first for the company.
The price increases are why more consumers are cutting the cord. And while the price of streaming services have also gone up, savvy people are able to pick and choose the services they want to keep and rely on free, ad-supported streaming services for everything else.
Not every customer has been alerted to the rate increase, as it appears the notifications are going out in waves.
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