Time Warner Cable raising prices in 2009
December 29th, 2008, 12:39 pm · 34 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
**Related updates, 1/02/09:** Other paid-TV companies are also raising rates. See “Cox Cable plans price hikes in 2009” and “AT&T U-verse raising TV prices.”
** UPDATE: 3:44 p.m.** Time Warner Cable answers more questions on the price hike. The price hike affects all O.C. customers and beyond. See below in bold **
__________________________________________
Happy holidays … your cable bill is going up.
Sincerely, Time Warner Cable
An across-the-board price hike is the big gift that Time Warner Cable sent to Orange County and Los Angeles customers in the past week. My notice arrived in the mail just in time for Christmas.
Time Warner plans to raise prices between $1 to $5 per month. I’m in Huntington Beach so I haven’t verified whether all O.C. customers will see the same hike. I have a call in to find out more details and I’ll post the update as soon as I get it. ** Yes, this affects all customers in O.C., Los Angeles and beyond. SEE UPDATE BELOW**
Customers with a bundled package will see a $3 to $5 monthly increase beginning in 2009. The ‘All the Best‘ package, for example, will increase $5 to $119.95 per month, compared to the current $114.95. That’s a 4.3 percent increase.
But it’s the lower-priced services that will get hit the most.
RoadRunner ’Lite’ customers get a $2 increase to $26.95, equivalent to an 8 percent increase.
For broadcast users — that includes just the basic TV channels like CBS, ABC and NBC — the monthly bill will jump 21percent a month to $17 a month, up from $14.
CableCARD users will pay an extra $1 per month, which brings the monthly total to $2.75. That’s an increase of 57.1 percent.
And if you’re one of those customers who need hand-holding with the various services, it’ll cost you more too. Agent assistance with payments or pay-per-view shows will cost $2.99 each, up $1 or a 50.3 percent increase. And brand new: An “Addressable change of service fee” will cost $2.99.
One decrease: The digital programming fee for a customer’s additional receivers will drop 20 percent, to $2, from $2.50.
And keep in mind, since equipment fees and other per-item charges are going up, a customer’s January cable bill could be higher than $5. For example, if you have ‘digital extreme’ package, RoadRunner Internet service and three TVs (with three digital cable boxes), that adds up to an additional extra $11 per month.
I highlighted the biggest percentage jumps. To view all the price hikes, click THIS LINK or the image on right for a larger view.
**UPDATE, 3:45 p.m.** Darryl Ryan, Time Warner’s very responsive media guy offered to explain the charges a bit further:
“Due to increased operating costs, including programming fees, product upgrades and network maintenance, there will be a rate adjustment for our video service.”
He points out that in the past year, Time Warner has added more channels – including 10 high-definition networks (up to 45 in certain cities). More channels are coming, he promised. Also, he added, package deals, such as its Triple Play (phone, Internet, TV) are cheaper overall and saves the customer $40/month. The ‘Double Play’ (two of the three services) saves $10 to $13/month.
Prices won’t impact customers who are currently on a promotion. For example, if you signed up last month for the TV/phone bundle and got a special rate for 12 months, your monthly fee won’t increase until after that promotion ends.
“These rate adjustments will not have the same impact on every customer. While some customers might notice a rate change, customers who subscribe to Internet, phone and TV services from multiple providers can actually save money by signing up for any of our competitively priced bundled packages,” Ryan said.
The price hike affects customers here and beyond the Southern California, although rates may differ by city, he said.
To get Gadgetress posts on Time Warner Cable delivered to your inbox, sign up for the e-mail newsletter HERE.
Recent Time Warner stories:
- Time Warner Cable ‘adopts’ O.C. families (Dec. 24, 2008)
- Time Warner’s O.C. phone outage felt in Hawaii (Dec. 23, 2008)
- The weekly Time Warner Cable status report (Dec. 22, 2008)
- Is Time Warner Cable’s Internet outage really fixed? (Dec. 16, 2008)
- Time Warner Cable Internet outage fixed (Dec. 11, 2008)
- Feds to look closely at cable TV firms pricing, channel changes
- Time Warner’s new HD channels and why Costa Mesa, Tustin get them first
- Time Warner Cable’s new features finally coming to O.C.
- Time Warner still cleaning up cable merger mess in O.C.
- How to get cheaper cable TV from Time Warner Cable
- How to get cheaper cable TV in O.C., part 2
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Here's a list of TV/mobile companies helping consumers one tweet at a time. 
Time warner is losing me as a customer tomorrow. They sent us this notice in the mail a few weeks ago about the price hikes and we’ve been exploring alternatives. With the changes from rabbit ears to digital basic TV in February we might just go that route and find a good internet service provider in the area.
I finally had enough with these criminals and cancelled my service. I think everyone should cancel their service and show these people that an increase is not justified. You get enough HD channels with a regular tv antenna and I will save $75 bucks a month.
Rabbit ears for HD and a good high speed internet connection and you no longer need cable. I have been cable free for 4 years!
I got the notice about a month ago…
When Time Warner took over Paragon about 12 yrs ago I dumped them. The rate for basic doubled the first year with no extra channels. Worst of all was the snooty attitude I got when I called to disconnect it like they didn’t need my account anyway.
Time Warner left us waiting on 3 separate occasions for HOURS, and never showed up to fix our cable problem. The fourth time they finally showed up. Each time they took a little off of our bill to supposedly compensate us — ha! My husband lost way more money by missing work waiting four hours each time they promised to be there and then didn’t show up. Time Warner is awful and each time I see there commericials saying “time is money, get our fast internet service” I get angry all over again. If time is money, Time Warner Cable owes us a few hundred bucks!
cancelling too, anyone know of a better provider?
I am sick of TWC. They give me a deal that’s only good for a few months, then they raise it back to regular price without letting me know. Now, they are raising their prices?!! This is insane. Time to explore alternatives since they are not the only cable provider in my area. Jerks!
Can you say “going out of business.”
Do people know how to go through the day without having to whine about everything? Prices go up all of the time for everything! Time Warner is cheaper here than what we were paying for it in Hawaii. (Don’t complain about the cost of living difference either- it averages the same in Hawaii as in So Cal.) Time Warner provides better service that what my brother in law gets in my same city through Verizon. I’m NOT cancelling my cable!. I’ll enjoy all my channels while you all watch the same 5 shows over and over again through your rabbit ears.
Matt, your rabbit ears will not work after february. Get a converter box.
I hate TWC. I filed a complaint against them with the city. All my problems were solved until now. Maybe if more people file complaints with the city….
Actually I live in Anaheim & I dont find it that expensive. I have basic cable with the HD package & 1 tier no premium channels & standard high speed internet. My bill is $78.39 every month. When TWC first came to Anaheim & took over Adelphia, TWC actually CALLED ME TO LOWER MY BILL, true story. As long as my bill stays below $100.00, I’m happy paying & there service has been ROCK SOLID for years.
Wow Cliff. I have about the same package as you and I pay $150 a month. Except no HD.
Time Warner in practicly a monopoly. In our area, they are the only decent choice for cable internet and tv, and yet their prices are outrageous and climbing!
And by the way, their HD channels suck. The sound is always going in and out and some days the cable goes out – but of course we don’t get reimbursed for those days.
TimeWarner is okay…until you have a problem. They do not show for appointments, they are rude to you at their walk-in locations, they cannot give you a straight answer when you have a question. Also, Time Warner has a sneaky practice: They call you the day of your appointment to confirm. If you do not answer by the second ring (good luck), on the FIRST CALL they hang up and cancel the appointment. You will not know your appointment is cancelled until after waiting around all day you call them. Then they will reschedule you as a space available at the end of the day. This will keep you waiting 8 to 10 hours rather than the usual 3 to 5. Their policy says not to cancel without three attempts first to contact you. They do this when they are too busy to meet the regulation waiting time. . Agencies and cities considering service should make note of these practices.
@This is not an exit
Call them up & tell them there to expensive & your thinking of moving on they will lower your bill for you for about 12 months. Works for me every year!
Just get AT&T U-Verse. Much better all around service. If I want to change my service plan I login to my account select the changes I want, reboot my dvr and whoop there it is. I can schedule my dvr from work, and best of all I watch my dvr shows from any tv in the house. I hate TWC. Pixelated High Def, crappy DNS servers, and loss of phone service if you lose power. Dropping TWC was the best thing I ever did.
their service is so so at best. If nothing goes wrong they are still way too expensive for what they deliver.
They carry dozens of programs I never watch, but hey wont even carry the 3 or 4 programs I really want.
DirectTV is looking like a far better alternative.
TWC is terrible….been waiting three years for them to bury the cable in my back yard and now I get a bill that went up $25.00….from $175.00 to $200.00……Where is Grande when you need them? They are not servicing my area yet. But when they do, I will drop TWC like one big huge hot potato!!! It’s sad when you get too big that you do not care any longer
TWC IS THE WORST! Unfortunaetly, I have to keep them until my contract is up. Can’t wait. Direct TV is the way to go. TWC is always having problems with pixels freezing, DVR not functioning properly and very expensive. Direct TV has much better prices and plans. Can’t wait til Jan 09′
I’d like to know why I have to pay for channels that I don’t watch, such as all the foreign language channels? Remove those channels from my lineup and adjust my bill accordingly. Also, Time Warner’s internet service is horrible. And don’t get me started on their customer service issues. Go ahead Time Warner, raise your prices and watch your customer base drop. You guys are brilliant.
I wanted to add some more detail. Time Warner Cable has worked very hard to lower operating costs in both 2008 and will do so in 2009. That said, programming costs are going up dramatically and more than offset the labor savings. Here are some facts:
- Directv, Verizon and AT&T all announced rate increases.
- Video is the only service going up and its because of the programming costs getting out of control. Everytime a sports network bids hundreds of millions for the rights to the BCS or whatever, they pass it on and thats to all of us.
- Over the air FREE networks (channel 2,4,7,11 etc.) are free for anyone who uses rabbit ears, yet they are asking for ever increasing fees from cable operators for something that is FREE to everyone else.
We have hundreds of hard working employees in Orange County and they are working very hard to keep the costs as low as possible and the service as high as possible.
Thanks for reading this,
Fred Stefany
Time warner Cable
Hey Fred people here may not like TWC but I have to give you credit for coming on the boards here & giving your side, well done.
Crooks!
My bill skyrocketed 60%!
They told me they had canceled all my promotions and specials that were supposedly good thru April 2009.
The bill went from $77 up to $118.
My sister’s bill went from $149 all the way up to $211, and that is without any changes to her service.
I cancelled my Cable TV service, and when I went yesterday to return the box, there was a very long line going all the way out into the parking lot with people cancelling their service and returning the gear.
Believe me, there are many angry people today.
Jefro.