Comcast and DirecTV said Tuesday they will raise rates by an average of about 4 percent in Colorado for cable- and satellite-television services.
The new rates will be effective March 1.
EchoStar Communications, the Douglas County-based Dish Network satellite-TV provider, said in December it would boost rates by an average of 4 percent Feb. 1.
Comcast, which provides cable TV to about 700,000 customers in Colorado, said its increases would average 4.4 percent but will vary depending on the “level and number of services the customer selects.”
Comcast customers who take digital cable packages pay an average of $66.31 a month.
The rates for Comcast’s Digital Voice telephone service and high-speed Internet service will not increase. The Philadelphia- based cable company, with 21.4 million customers the nation’s largest, began announcing rate increases in some cities in November.
DirecTV on Tuesday announced a 4 percent average rate increase nationwide. The El Segundo, Calif.-based satellite- TV provider said its 15 million customers now pay an average of $70 per month.
The rate increase will apply to customers who receive DirecTV bundled with Qwest phone and Internet services.
While EchoStar is raising rates on average, it also is making changes that could reduce some customer bills by as much as 6 percent a month. Customers who choose not to receive local broadcast channels from Dish Network will get the savings.
“We’re doing something new this year: We’re unbund ling local TV channels,” said EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin. “Customers can choose local channels from Dish or get their local channels through an off-air antenna for a savings of $5.”
The company is also guaranteeing that the rate for its cheapest package with local channels will remain the same – $34.99 – until January 2008.
EchoStar customers on average pay $57 a month.
All the companies pointed to higher programming costs as the leading reason for the rate increase, along with improvements to service.
“Programming fees have significantly outpaced the average increase of a DirecTV customer’s bill,” said DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer. “We also continue to invest in the DirecTV viewing experience.”
EchoStar, which has 12 million customers, and DirecTV will begin offering local programming in high definition this spring.
Comcast said in its statement that it has improved customer service, added programming and improved reliability.
Comcast continues to add hours of free programming to its video-on-demand service.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
