Spectrum Price Hikes Hit Upper East Side And Beyond

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY – Spectrum, one of Manhattan’s major providers of cable, internet, mobile, and home phone services, has raised its prices twice this year.

Although the rate increases were first reported in July, customers are likely noticing the changes to their bills – or their autopay charges – in August.

Prices jumped for TV and internet service, and although many of the reported increases were fairly insignificant – $3 or $4 a month in some cases – depending on the package they could amount to as much as $10-20 each month.

That’s about $120-240 annually.

Second Time This Year

The July rate increases follow similar price hikes in January of this year.

A spokesperson for Spectrum was unable to confirm whether or not additional rate increases are planned, but did confirm that increases are effective across the network and not specific to New York City.

“Spectrum has worked with programming providers to create a new business model that provides our video customers with more choices to fit their needs and a better value for the products they purchase,” the company said, in a statement. “Despite these ongoing efforts, some programmers continually raise fees for their content, which are passed through as increased fees to viewers and drive higher costs across the entire industry.”

Contentious disputes between content providers – like Disney – and cable companies – like Spectrum, which is controlled by Charter Communications – have been escalating in recent years, as the cable giants continue to lose customers due to cord cutting and content providers compete with streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon.

The result? Customers pay more and more for service.

Spectrum isn’t alone in raising rates – far from it – and most providers have raised their prices in the past year, including Verizon FiOS, Comcast, Altice (Optimum), and T-Mobile. Streaming services, too, have hiked rates, with Hulu, Disney+, and Netflix, all seeing price increases.

Are you experiencing cost of living increases? Is there something you’d like Patch to look into? Email michael.mcdowell@patch.com.