Charter Communications is quietly raising the rates for some of its services for the second time in less than six months.
A Charter rep (largely) confirmed a Reddit posting from earlier this week — from an individual claiming to be a Charter employee — stating that base internet pricing will rise in July by $3 a month, with the base-level Spectrum TV Select package also going up by $3 in some states.
Here’s the post:
Rate increases incoming again July. from r/Spectrum
Charter did say the changes to its TV Select service will impact “less than 1%” of residential video customers. And CableCard pricing is going up by $4 a month, not $6. (We were surprised CableCARD is still a thing, too, with Charter ending support for the technology two years ago.)
The increases don’t appear to impact Spectrum Mobile.
“Spectrum has worked with programming providers to create a new business model that provides our video customers with more choices to fit their needs and a better value for the products they purchase,” reads a statement emailed to Next TV. “Despite these ongoing efforts, some 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 following an earlier price hike in January, when the company raised rates for its low-income-targeted Spectrum Internet Assist service from $20 to $25 a month.
Last July, Spectrum raised the price of its TV, internet and phone services, again citing programming costs for the increase.
The news also comes after Charter’s first-quarter earnings report revealed that Spectrum lost 72,000 internet customers and 405,000 cable TV customers in the first three months of 2022.
Perhaps more relevant: Broadband average revenue per customer (ARPU) came in at $68.12 in the first quarter first equity analysts' consensus forecasts of $68.60.
“We continue to expand and improve our offerings to ensure all customers have products and packages that best meet their needs,” the Charter rep added. “While our services have been impacted by rising costs, we strive to keep prices as low as possible.”
Charter is still in the process of notifying its customers of the price increases.
