Price Hike for Dish Network and DirecTV customers
As millions of family members come together to celebrate the holidays, satellite TV companies Dish Network and DirecTV are wishing their customers Merry Christmas by increasing the prices of their service plans. Both companies have confirmed with Yahoo news that prices of various television packages and services fees are scheduled to increase.
The increase in TV services is coming at a time when many families are choosing video streaming services, instead of pay TV service. Many cable companies are working hard to keep customers connected as a last-ditch effort to win back customers and prevent current customers from jumping ship
According to Yahoo News:
DirectTV and Dish will each hike their service fees by between $2 and $5 per month, and they began notifying customers of the change just before Christmas. Beyond the higher service fees, however, the companies’ TV package pricing will increase as well.
In a note to clients picked up by CNNMoney, Nomura Equity analyst Adam Ilkowitz said that the cost of DirecTV’s average TV package will increase by 4.4% next year, up from the 3.2% average increase customers saw at the beginning of this year. The base “Entertainment” plan will jump to $58 per month from $55, and the price of DirecTV’s top package will increase $5 to $130 per month.
Dish’s price increases are even more severe. After raising its rates an average of 16.3% at the start of 2013, Ilkowitz says that Dish will increase its prices by an average of 5.5% in early 2014. The company’s base package and its “America’s Choice 120+” plan will remain unchanged but all of its other plans will increase by either $3 or $5 per month.
You would assume since the increase in the number of customers only using the Internet that cable companies would choose to lower their prices.
