Verizon Communications has increased the monthly price for customers of its legacy FiOS TV Premier package - which the telco stopped offering about a year ago - from $47.99 to $57.99 per month, a hike of roughly 21%.
The rate increase went into effect starting Oct. 1 for all FiOS TV Premier customers.
Most customers who subscribe to a multiproduct FiOS bundle that includes the Premier package also will see the $10 price increase, depending on the package they subscribed to, according to Verizon spokeswoman Heather Wilner.
Verizon phased out the Premier package last year across all territories and replaced it with two new tiers: FiOS TV Extreme HD ($57.99 per month), which provides up to 65 HD channels and more than 320 standard-def channels; and FiOS TV Essentials ($47.99 per month), which provides HD feeds of local broadcast networks (up to 14 depending on market) plus more than 250 SD channels.
Even though the price of the Premier package will now be the same as Extreme HD, Premier customers will not receive the full lineup of Extreme HD.
"We offer these Premier customers the choice to stick with what they've got for $10 more, or switch to one of our current service plans -- FiOS TV Essentials or FiOS TV Extreme HD," Wilner wrote in an e-mail. She added that Verizon has "continuously invested in adding more content, higher Internet speeds, and more advanced capabilities to our FiOS services."
