Despite accelerated cord-cutting, linear networks that have strip-mined their content away to subscription streaming, and a whole lot of holes in local broadcast markets due to myriad retrans disputes, Dish Network has announced yet another across-the-board price hike for its satellite TV subscribers
Starting October 12, most Dish tiers will go up by $5 a month, and the late fee for not paying your bill on time will jump from $2 to $12. The “America's Top 200” tier, one of Dish's most popular packages, is now priced at $108 a month before taxes and fees. (A complete list of tier prices is pasted below.)
“The price that we pay for programming continues to rise. In fact, the fastest growing cost we and all other TV providers have is driven by the cost we pay the programmers,” Dish said in a note to customers.
Dish lost 197,000 satellite-TV customers in the second quarter, putting its base below 7 million subscribers or the first time in decades. Its annual cord-cutting rate hit an all-time high of 11.4% at the end of Q2.
The operator currently has broadcast retransmission disputes ongoing with Hearst Television, Cox Media Group, Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting, resulting in a blackout of 77 local affiliates across the U.S.
Here are the new prices for Dish's satellite TV packages:
