Cox raising cable TV, HD and Internet prices in Orange County
January 29th, 2010, 1:42 pm · 58 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Cox Communications is raising the price of its major cable TV plans in Orange County between 3.6 to 10 percent, beginning March 1. And if you’re a premium movie subscriber or HD fan, expect your monthly bill to go up even higher. (Thanks to all the readers who wrote in about this.)
It’s not unexpected news as we’ve heard about TV price hikes from all the major providers in Orange County. Cox, which has its local headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita, tends to increase prices in the spring.
“The main reason that our prices are changing is because of the rising costs of doing business. Cox is similar to a grocery store; we are a retail distributor of a wholesale product. Each year programmers like ESPN, CNN and MTV raise their costs, which then raises our costs to do business. We try to keep cable prices as low as possible, and while we absorb much of the increases incurred, we can’t absorb the full amount of fees we pay for the programmers. So, we have to pass on at least a portion of those increases to our customers,” said Lana Ong, a Cox spokeswoman.
| Service | 2009 | 2010 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cox TV starter (broadcast) | $20.00 | $22.00 | +10.0% |
| Cox TV essential (Broadcast, popular cable) | $50.99 | $52.99 | +3.9% |
| Cox Advanced TV (Digital) | $55.99 | $57.99 | +3.6% |
| DVR service | $11.95 | $9.99 | -16.4% |
| HD tier | $4.95 | $5.50 | +11.1% |
| Digital receiver | $5.50 | $5.50 | 0.0% |
| HD receiver | $5.50 | $7.50 | +36.4% |
| HD DVR | $5.50 | $7.50 | +36.4% |
| CableCard | $1.99 | $1.99 | 0.0% |
| 1 premium movie | $12.99 | $14.00 | +7.8% |
| 2 premium movies | $18.50 | $21.00 | +13.5% |
| 3 premium movies | $27.00 | $30.00 | +11.1% |
| 4 premium movies | $35.00 | $38.00 | +8.6% |
| ATV with 1 TV pak | $62.49 | $65.49 | +4.8% |
| ATV with 3 TV paks | $65.94 | $68.94 | +4.5% |
| ATV with 4 TV paks | $68.94 | $71.94 | +4.4% |
| Internet (starter) | $19.95 | $22.99 | +15.2% |
| Internet (value) 3 Mbps | $28.99 | $31.99 | +10.3% |
| Internet (preferred) 10 Mbps | $44.99 | $46.99 | +4.4% |
| Internet (premier) 20 Mbps | $59.99 | $61.99 | +3.3% |
The chart on the right details what services are going up. The complete document being mailed to Cox subscribers is available HERE. But what is going up?
■ HD TV service: Both the HD receiver and the HD DVR will now cost $2 more than non-HD versions. That’s a 36.4% increase. Also going up: the HD channel tier (with HDnet, HDnet Movies and HD Theater) jumps 55-cents per month to $5.50.
■ Premium channels: If you thought spending $12.99/month on HBO was a lot, that price is jumping 7.8 percent to $14. Buy all four movie premiums — including Cinemax, Showtime and Starz — and the price goes up 8.6 percent to $38/month.
■ Basic broadcast cable: People on Cox’s cheapest TV plan, which includes only the local and broadcast channels, get a $2 price increase to $22, or 10 percent.
■ High speed Internet: There’s no escaping a fee increase if you’re a Cox Internet user. Prices for the starter service are going up $3/month to $22.99, or 15.2 percent. The fastest users get a 3.3 percent hike to $61.99/month.
More 2010 TV price hikes: |
What’s not going up:
■ Phone service. Basic phone service prices are not going up. However, if you use certain features, like call waiting and caller ID, those are going up $0.05 to $1.05 per month.
■ DVR service: Not only is this TV recording service that also can pause and rewind live TV not going up, it’s going down by 16.4 percent. Specifically, Cox is cutting about $2 off the monthly fee to get it to $9.99/month.
TV prices continue to rise everywhere even as consumers seem to have more options with online TV sites like Hulu.com and free services like Boxee.TV that search the web for TV shows. The rise of Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse, plus satellite TV services Dish Networks and DirecTV, have all contributed to more choices for consumers in some areas.
Ong, with Cox, added that if customers commit to a 24-month service agreement, they can qualify for a price lock guarantee so their rates won’t be impacted by future rate hikes for a period of time.
Recent Cox Cable news:
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Here's a list of TV/mobile companies helping consumers one tweet at a time. 
Directv just sent me the same thing. They are going up as mucha as 30%… The programers are going crazy with how much they are charging the cable companies. So much for directv’s locked in price.
Just dropped off one of my two DVR/HD TV boxes. Hooked up a Mac Mini to one of the TVs and I’m going to see if between Hulu, Boxee, etc. I can begin to cut back on Cox.
So I pay more per month for the same @#&*$ HD DVR and it’s weak 160GB drive, but they’ll still block the eSATA port so I can’t put a DVR expander on it? That’s just shy of illegal in my opinion.
Time to look for alternatives to Cox….
I agree!!!
I got started about a year ago with a starter low rate that I guess only lasted about 3 mo–but that was long enough for me to miss out on the govt subsidies of the digital converter boxes. But I’m thinking of looking into just getting one of them rather than paying them for TV that I don’t even watch much.
Oh and they aren’t very helpful if you don’t jump through their hoops and use the software they support such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows mobile.
When I used to be with Earthlink they just helped me–I didn’t have to use the software they wanted to get support.
The prices we pay its absurd they can’t just help. I had a real challenge in trying to get my Windows mobile phone set up so that I could use email. They just said they didn’t support that.
And of course as I recall when cable came out it was supposed to be commercial free since the fees charged were supposed to pay for it.
Now we not only get the broadcast commercials but cox sells their own. On top of what they charge us.
Thats still $15 a month cheaper that Totally Worthless Crap
Too bad they wont deregulate and then force other cable providers the right to use Totally Worthless lines
I would order Cox tonight!
SO GLAD i got rid of cox!! They are by far the biggest FRAUD of a company!! Best thing i ever did. Do your research, you can find cable much cheaper than cox. When you go to cancel, ONLY then do they offer you deals.
“The main reason that our prices are changing is because of the rising costs of doing business. Cox is similar to a grocery store; we are a retail distributor of a wholesale product. Each year programmers like ESPN, CNN and MTV raise their costs, which then raises our costs to do business. We try to keep cable prices as low as possible, and while we absorb much of the increases incurred, we can’t absorb the full amount of fees we pay for the programmers. So, we have to pass on at least a portion of those increases to our customers,” said Lana Ong, a Cox spokeswoman.
What a crock of S&%T!!! So you raise the cost of a DVR and internet? That’s greed, not networks charging more money. COX, YOU ARE GREEDY and anyone with a brain will do their homework and lose you idiots like a bad habit.
We ditched Cox TV last year in August. We still have their internet however because AT&T U-Verse could not get a clean signal to our place, and FIOS doesn’t exist here where I live in Irvine. I don’t know any other service we can use.
We purchased a $30 antenna and the HD signal is just as good as Cox for all stations except Fox 11. Not sure what is up with Fox 11, but it only comes in standard def on a channel 13 feed, but a month or so ago it didn’t even come in at all.
We don’t really miss much. I can’t see why people pay for TV anymore. It’s cheaper to buy the shows you want to watch off the internet now rather than pay for “tiers” of stations. Once Cox offers stations on a station-by-station basis, we may think about coming back.
Time to cancel cox and get magic Jack
Well I have both and would not depend on it for my only phone service.
I’ve had times last year when I tried to call my Dad up in OR around 5 pm and it would just dial and then back to a dial tone–it wouldn’t go through.
Plus it is connected to my computer which is in one room.
And you need high speed internet to use it.
But I do like magicJack. I use it for most outgoing long distance calls.
But cox phone service didn’t go up and it is better than AT&T with a much wider calling area. I have a friend in Santa Ana where I’m a toll call for her, but she is in my local calling area. So she will call me and we’ll hang up and I’ll call her back.
A large part of the blame goes to local and city governments who have a sweetheart deal with COX, and drag their feet in every way possible when it comes to allowing ANY competition. They will use every delay tactic they can find, or make some up as they go, so that companies like ATT Uverse, and Verizon FIOS can’t move in where Cox has monopolies.
Cox knows that if people had a real choice, they would be out of business in a heartbeat. Either that or be forced to actually deliver what they advertise, and (heaven forbid) give their subscribers real customer service.
Some good points. Since they have a monopoly, the cities should require them to provide better customer service like not requiring us to use their preferred (Microsoft) email clients in order to get help.
So they leave us dangling. They also didn’t help at all in my trying to set up my Windows mobile phone. I had to kind of read between the lines and mostly follow what they had posted just as a service-not that they support it–of iPhone set up.
Thanks Cox for making my decision to get rid of your service a lot easier!
I’m also canceling cable with Cox. I refuse to pay $65 a month for cable anymore. This doesn’t even include any movie channels. What a rip off!
it doesnt matter if u just have interent which thats wat matters. i hate tv and its such a waste oif money and tme. id rather be busy and have my interent wenever. cheaper. tv should seriously be banned. if ur gonna watc tv thres torrents like downloiading music but shows. for anyone thats needs a change go to eztv.com and use utorrents. not that compliucated but its beat the he l l out of lame tv. its awesome.
the future of tv is torrents. dont care wat anyone says. u save money and time. its great. truely great…
you’d think with all the money they charge, they’d have the resources it takes to provide stable webmail
How petty is that they also removed the TV guide channel from basic cable subscribers!!!!! Cox sucks cox
TV Guide Channel stinks. This channel isn’t worth channel space since it was bought by TV Guide. It was a worthwhile channel when it was Prevue Channel.
Price increases are expected with the economy in the shape its in as more people are at home . But ultimately the choice to stay with the provider is the consumers , they can always cancel and use free TV , go to the Internet or break the addiction entirely and focus on other activities . Just like the power of the vote the power of consumer choice can alter our living environment . You decide !
Only our choices are limited by their monopoly. I used to use rabbit ears when I lived here before, and we used that at my Dad’s house but the reception got worse and finally cox offered us a real deal that we went for–which was good for him as he was elderly and couldn’t get out as much as he used to and liked to watch the Angels and Lakers.
But now with digital TV, my TV won’t work unless I buy a converter box. I moved here with an offer that sounded good but didn’t last long for basic service. It was also misleading with different terms used some of which sounded like it included other than broadcast channels.
I hardly watch TV but do like to watch it some times. Also I can’t put up much of an antenna outdoors (actually that would be difficult since I think the broadcast antennas are up LA way and don’t have a good place to put an antenna there. Don’t know if rabbit ears would work. I would probably need to buy a special antenna as well as the converter box or buy a new TV–and my TV isn’t all that old.) and don’t want satelite.
Developers and cable companies conspired years ago in some of the newer areas for the CC&Rs to ban antennas so people were pretty much forced to use cable. Then the communications act forced them to allow satellite dishes and I think broadcast antennas. I’ve seen dishes but no outside broadcast antennas. Associations don’t always know what the law is on that.
Good by COX!!!!!!!!!
I live in a Mission Viejo senior community where you must subscribe to Cox. They give you a small discount, but you still have no choice. Some residents have a dish, but they also pay for Cox!
Bill
This is why I bought an antenna. I spent 80 bucks at radio shack for a rather large roof antenna. I mounted it in my attic so it aint some ugly thing on my roof. I get over 120 channels, of which 20 or so are full 1080 HD. Its FREE. FREE! And the recpetion is incredible. Digital broadcast makes cable obsolete in my opinion. I get my movies via netflix streaming. Not free, but CHEAP. Unlimited movies for $9 a month! Cable will be expensive only as long as folks are willing to keep paying for it. And because folks are willing to keep paying for it, the programmers will smell the money and keep raising rates on the cable companies. Its a never ending cycle. I am DONE with cable AND satellite. DONE.
Awesome! I grew up watching channels 2 thru 13 with a few UHF stations and will gladly return to that.
Dave – can you tell me what model of antenna you bought?
it sounds almost too good to be true, so I’ld like to check it out. Thanks
Interesting. I guess that is a possibility.
How big is the antenna? My attic isn’t real big although I previously had ham radio antennas up in it when I lived here before.
I suppose I should check with Radio Shack to see what they have.
And Cox wonders why they are losing subscribers to other technologies!
It’s amazing how over the years we’ve all been suckered in to paying for T.V. What a rip off cable and internet is! Whatever happen to all this technology was suppose to make things cheaper. Now we’re at the mercy of these companies charging for over priced services without any true competition. And look at all the service price points these cable and phone companies have. You know your getting screwed when there’s not either one, two or three options max to choose from as if it’s something to make a big decision over. They make it complicated on purpose just to charge more. And the state and federal governments are in on too. Just look at all the lame taxes and fees we pay. SO JUST KEEP BENDING OVER AND CONTINUE TO GET IT UP THE AZZ!
Last week I scheduled free U-Verse installation for this week. For about the same price I’m paying for Cox now I will get double the internet speed (3mb);my second receiver will DVR; I’ll get $10 off the next 6 mos and a $350 spending card good for everything except cash advances and gasoline. I haven’t compared apples to apples on the channel line-up, but i checked for the HD channels I favor and they are all in the U-Verse 200 line-up. We’ll see how it goes! I gave Cox the opportunity to match the U-Verse deal, but they wouldn’t do it. The best they would offer was a price freeze for two years, and -$10 for 6 mos. Even if you don’t switch it will behoove you to get on the phone. Fiber Optic, here i come!
Try moving to the IE we don’t have Cox cable here————
Raising prices in a shrinking market places may not be the best choice. This just enforces my decision to stop using Cox years go as their service was so poor.
I have had cox for over 25 years formerly (Dimension)always my biggest bill every month ,we switched to AT&T here in San Clemente.Cheaper and a much better reception and speed.I hated cox cable and all the money I wasted over the years.LEAVE THEM NOW!