New York—Comcast executive vice president of operations Dave Watson unveiled a handful of new HD packages at an industry conference Monday aimed at addressing consumers affected by the sluggish economy.
At the UBS Media and Communications Conference here Monday, Watson unveiled three new triple play HD tiers—HD Starter, priced at $114.89 per month (including 80 digital cable channels, 6 Megabit per second to 12 Mbps high-speed Internet and digital phone); HD Plus, priced at $139.99 per month (150 digital channels, 8 Mbps to 16 Mbps high-speed Internet and digital phone); and HD Premium, priced at $179.99 per month (including HD/DVR service, 200 digital channels, 16 Mbps to 22 Mbps high-speed Internet, premium networks HBO, Starz, Cinemax and Showtime and a Sports Entertainment package.
The HD Starter price rises to between $130 and $135 per month after the promotional period ends; while the Plus package jumps to $179 per month and the Premium tier increases to $200 to $210 per month after the promo period.
Watson said that Comcast already had a lower priced digital tier and is introducing an “Economy” digital package which includes 50 channels for $29.99 per month. The company also is pairing that digital tier in a double play package with either 1 Mbps high-speed Internet or phone for $54.90 per month and a triple play with phone and 1 Mbps data for $79.85 per month.
“We’ve standardized this approach throughout the country,” Watson said. “It gives us a lot of flexibility whether it’s acquisition-oriented or it’s retention. Helping customers perhaps who call us and say, ‘times are a little tough, I need some help.’ And versus letting that customer leave a product category, we’re going to make sure we try to keep them in all of our products and these triple play offerings will help us do that.”
