Jack Frisch, a retiree in Manhattan Beach, Calif., was perturbed when he came home to a price increase for his Adelphia Communications cable subscription last month. He had been following the bad news about the cable operator's insider dealings for the past few months and its bankruptcy filing June 25.
?It kind of frosted me, because I saw the story about Adelphia that day and I got the bill increase the same day,? Frisch told Cable World. His basic cable service price rose 5.5%, to $38.25, last month. Digital cable increased 20.1%, to $11.95, according to Frisch's bill.
It's rate hikes like these ? as high as 35.8% in some digital tiers ? that could actually hurt the bankrupt cable operator by pushing away subscribers who are already frustrated by the influx of negative news surrounding the company, according to some consumers and city officials. While Frisch says the price increase won't cause him to switch at this point, he may very well turn off Adelphia if more rate increases come down the pike.
Not that he won't have other options. Already DirecTV has jumped at the opportunity to increase its own subscriber base at Adelphia's expense. DirecTV began a marketing campaign just last week to target Adelphia subscribers in Southern California. The direct-broadcast-satellite provider is offering its DirecTV Total Choice Plus package, with more than 150 channels, including local channels, at $39.99 a month.
This option may look appealing to customers, especially when compared to Adelphia's recently inflated $50.20 charge for both digital cable and full basic service in the area, which offers about the same quality and programming as DirecTV Total Choice Plus.
In an April 22 letter to Moreno Valley, Calif., Adelphia attributed its planned rate increases to additional channels, such as National Geographic on basic analog cable and Discovery Wings on digital. Last month, when this increase took effect, Adelphia increased rates for digital basic by 17%, to $10.30, compared with May. And Adelphia's full basic analog service rose 24.6% in June, to $37.19.
But the price increases don't stop there. On June 14, Adelphia notified Moreno Valley of yet another price hike set for August, just two months after the first increase, says Angela Ruchen, media and communications administrator for Moreno Valley. In August, Adelphia's digital basic package is scheduled to increase $1.65, to $11.95, or 16% more than the price in June and 35.8% more than the price in May. Ruchen explained that the operator might have had to increase rates twice since it had not raised rates in three years.
This second price hike is bound to infuriate consumers, who have already phoned the city with complaints about the price increases in June as well as the company's failure to notify consumers about the price increases, Ruchen says.
?Many subscribers feel that they [Adelphia] are trying to settle their financial problems on the backs of subscribers,? she adds.
Adelphia spokeswoman Lisa Wolford says the company does not make its past or planned rate increases public. But, she adds, ?our rate increases were previously scheduled and are totally unrelated to the company's financial situation.
?We apologize for the timing,? Wolford says. ?It is unfortunate that people are getting hit with the increases when the company is in the news as much as it is. But we continue to do business as usual and part of that is periodic rate increases.?
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