- January 19, 2021
- Posted by: Dave DeJonge
- Category: Streaming Services
Xfinity hiking prices
Subscribers to Comcast/Xfinity are seeing prices hikes to start out the new year, even those people who are “locked in” to a promotional rate.
The trick that’s used is to increase the Broadcast TV fee and Regional Sports Network (RSN) fee. These two fees aren’t included in the advertised rates and aren’t included in the locked-in price.
The Broadcast fee could go up $4.50 a month while the RSN fee could go up $2 a month. In total, it could mean an increase of $78 a year.
But that’s not all …
While the cost of the primary TV box is increasing $2.50 a month, additional TV boxes will decrease $2.45 each. So that’s a wash if you have two boxes, and a slight decrease if you have three or more.
Additionally, Xfinity’s Internet-only packages are supposed to increase by $3 a month.
Nearly 1 in 3 will cut the cord
According to a survey of 2,100 U.S. consumers by The Trade Desk, people plan to cut the cable cord in 2021 at a much higher rate than was expected.
The data shows 27% of cable subscribers plan to cut out cable by the end of 2021. In 2020, about 15% cut the cord, and an additional 3% was expected in 2021.
Why the rapid decrease? It’s a combination of factors. The pandemic is putting financial pressure on people. The options for streaming continue to expand. Live sports are less of a draw. And the overall satisfaction with streaming keeps increasing.