Colorado residents looking to Comcast for 75 TV channels, high-speed Internet and phone services in a neat $99-a-month bundle will have to wait awhile.
Comcast is bundling those services at that price in the Philadelphia, Boston and New Jersey areas to lure new subscribers with a “triple play” of products.
But the company has yet to announce a similar low-priced bundle here.
“I would definitely look at getting it. It sounds like a good deal,” said Carol Williams of Castle Rock. “I wouldn’t say I’m envious, but I believe (that package) would bring (Comcast) more customers here.”
Comcast, based in Philadelphia, has 21.4 million cable customers in 35 states, including 700,000 in Colorado.
In Boston, the triple-play package for new customers includes standard cable, unlimited local and long-distance calling and high-speed Internet service for $99 a month. Current cable-TV customers can add both Digital Voice Internet phone service and high-speed Internet services for $66 a month.
The promotion lasts for one year.
In Denver, the same bundled services cost existing Comcast customers $128.59 a month. New subscribers pay $10 more, according to the Comcast website.
Qwest offers a bundle in Denver that includes local and long-distance calling, DSL high-speed Internet and DirecTV satellite service for $119.97.
“We have not announced local launch timing (for a $99 bundled package),” said Cindy Parsons, spokeswoman for Comcast in Colorado. “Comcast operates locally, and decisions are made on a local basis.”
Parsons said Colorado was among the first cities to get Digital Voice, the company’s Voice over Internet Protocol-like home telephone service.
“San Francisco doesn’t have Digital Voice yet,” she said.
Competition from powerful, well-financed telecommunications companies such as Verizon appears to play a part in cable-company pricing.
Verizon began rolling out its FiOS TV service in Keller, Texas, last year. The company launched FiOS in Woburn, Mass., a city north of Boston, this January.
“What I presume is that phone companies have received a lot of cable-franchise agreements on the East Coast, so there’s more wire-line competition,” said Darryn Zuehlke, executive director of the Denver Office of Telecommunications.
“It’s understandable. There’s a bigger population base, which may lend to a more competitive package as cable companies try to keep their customers,” he said.
Qwest is working to secure local franchise agreements in the Denver metro area to offer its own cable-TV service. The Denver phone company already has a few TV subscribers in Lone Tree and Highlands Ranch, but Comcast has kept prices constant in those areas.
Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst of the Leicht man Group in New Hampshire, said introductory offers are common among many cable providers to introduce customers to new products, particularly digital phone services.
“There’s a similar offer with Cablevision in New York and Time Warner Cable in many locations,” he said. “Comcast may do it on a region-by-region basis.”
The challenge is to offer new customers a better deal while avoiding alienating current subscribers, he said.
Local Comcast customers can get a $99 package if they choose the smallest cable TV package available – basic cable, in addition to phone and Internet service.
One example in the metro area would be 35 basic channels at $13.44, Digital Voice at $39.95 and high-speed Internet service at $45.95, for a subtotal of $99.34, plus $5.85 in taxes and fees.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
