How Much Cable Bills Are Going Up This Year

Cable bills go up frequently. Such is the hazards of inflation and keeping the same cable package for numerous years. However, recent reports indicate that cable bills will be increasing more than normal during 2017, with a variety of cable companies all increasing their bills for this fiscal year. If you get your cable through AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, Dish, Verizon and others will all be seeing price increases in 2017.

Most cable companies are pretty upfront about price increases, but it's hard to find that information all in one place. Of all of the major cable companies, AT&T looks to have the broadest price hike plan, with the company anticipating that in 2017 bills will go up from somewhere between $2 and $8. Comcast could get quite a bit more expensive as basic cable packages will increase $5-$7 but sports packages will also increase by $3-$5. DirectTV plans to increase between $2 and $6 dollars this year, and Dish Network thinks its popular packages will increase by $5. Verizon should increase by $3 and Cablevision is giving users a percentage answer, saying packages will increase by 3.4%.

In the scheme of things, most of these price hikes are affordable. When you are already paying more than 50-100 bucks for a cable package that already has a slew of weird fees attached, an additional $3 or $4 dollars won't be all that noticeable on the final bill. Still, no one likes price increases, and it's a move that doesn't seem as if it will be stopping soon. Because of DVR, major channels are making less off of advertisements and are asking for more on the back end. This in turn means that the cable companies are more inclined to sign on for price hikes. In addition, the numbers of people cutting cable in general are probably not helping, either, as those who cut cable are income lost.

One company that hasn't expressly stated what the price increase could be, according to Consumer Reports, is Time Warner Cable, which sold to Charter last spring. A while back, the company was saying its packages were "mispriced," which indicates the company could be looking at a price hike, but nothing is set in stone, yet. We'll let you know if and when the company decides to finally reveal the actual logistics of its price hike.

Price hikes have been an increasing issue worth note in recent years. While a lot of people are choosing to cut cable and find alternatives to regular TV, it is worth noting that a lot of TV content that is available on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon is content that is created for traditional TV mediums, first. Eventually an alternative to high-priced cable packages is going to have to come together, but we aren't there yet. For now, if you do watch a lot of TV, expect to pay a little more for it in 2017. To find out what is headed to the schedule soon, take a look at our midseason schedule.