[StBernard] Cox to raise cable rates

[Westley Annis]

Cox to raise cable rates
Basic service fees will not increase 
Monday, January 01, 2007
By Mary Judice
Business writer 
Cox Communications will raise rates $4 per month beginning in February for
most of its 180,000 cable customers in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Charles and
St. Bernard parishes. 

 
The increase applies exclusively to expanded service, which offers viewers
access to 68 channels, including Disney, Nickelodeon, the ESPN channels and
Discovery Channel. It is the first increase since 2003 and results from
higher costs of programming and costs incurred since Hurricane Katrina.
Average customer bills will rise 9 percent. 

"This increase is largely a result of higher programming costs, as well as
the costs of rebuilding the network and our business after Katrina," Greg
Bicket, vice president and region manager, wrote in a letter that will go
out to customers in their January bills. 

Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area in August 2005, Cox
has lost 40 percent of its cable customers. 

Brad Grundmeyer, manager of public affairs, estimated that 90 percent of Cox
customers subscribe to expanded service and will see their rates rise. 

The cost of the limited, or basic, service will not increase. Customers in
St. Charles Parish currently pay $11.50 per month for basic service, which
offers 25 channels, and those in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard
currently pay $15.55 a month for the service. 

Customers who opt for the expanded service pay for limited service and then
pay an additional fee for the expanded options, and it is the expanded fee
that is rising. 

With the increase, customers in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes
will pay $31.44 per month for expanded cable service and St. Charles Parish
customers will pay $35.49. 

The limited service fees, plus the expanded fees, will add up to $46.99 for
customers in all four parishes, an increase from $42.99. 

Customers who have a converter box will pay $5.25 per month for the box, an
increase of 66 cents, and those who rent a digital receiver from the company
will pay a little more than $5 per month. 

Grundmeyer said Cox has notified officials in all of the affected areas but
does not have to seek approval from them because the higher rates are within
the limits allowed by the Federal Communications Commission, which sets rate
ceilings. 

He said the company acts like a retail distributor of wholesale products. As
costs for programming increased, the company absorbed them for a period of
time before passing the added costs down to the retail level. 

Cox had scheduled a rate increase for September 2005 but backed off when the
storm hit. "We opted not to go with a rate increase and the company agreed
in 2006 to not increase rates," he said. 

The cable company said it has taken 16 months to get 60 percent of its
customers back. "We have found, in the post-Katrina world, customers buy
more services from us but we have fewer customers than before the storm,"
Grundmeyer said. 

The company has undertaken a rebuilding program that includes more capacity,
high-definition services and higher-speed Internet, he said. The rebuilt
system allows the company to provide interactive television with access to
games and weather and more high-definition channels, and will allow the
company to launch wireless high-speed Internet service. 

Grundmeyer said Cox opted to restore the entire network and has 90 percent
of its network running, even in St. Bernard Parish, where many customers
have not been able to return. 

"We have cable service into the devastated areas and are still waiting for
people," he said. 

Cox has opened customer service centers on Elysian Fields Avenue and on
Edwards Avenue in Harahan and has centers in St. Charles Parish and on the
West Bank on Lapalco Boulevard. 

. . . . . . . 

Mary Judice can be reached at mjudice at timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3496.