AT&T (NYSE: T) U-verse users will get a lump of coal in their stockings this year as the telco plans to raise the rates on its popular TV and voice service packages.
The service provider informed users on its website that beginning in late January the prices of almost all of its TV packages will increase from $2 to $4 a month.
Specifically, the monthly price for AT&T's U-family and U-family All In will increase by $2. U100, U200, U200 All In, U200 Latino and U200 Latino All In will increase by $3 per month. Likewise, U300, U300 All In, U300 Latino, U300 Latino All In, U400, U450, U450 All In, U450 Latino and U450 Latino All In will increase by $4 per month.
The service provider justified the rate hikes in an e-mail to FierceTelecom by citing that it has to keep up with rising content costs.
"We work hard to provide great value to our customers," AT&T said in a statement to FierceTelecom. "These price changes are affected by a variety of factors including programming costs, service improvements, and technology enhancements. Programming costs constitute a significant portion of the costs that we and our customers pay. These adjustments to our package prices are significantly lower than the increases our programmers are charging for their content."
Additionally, the service provider said that it is increasing other ancillary fees. It will increase each billed non-DVR TV receiver by $1 a month while the Regulatory Video Cost Recovery Charge will increase by 1 cent a month.
What's more, the service provider's Broadcast TV Surcharge will increase by $1 per month in all markets except for Detroit, Biloxi, Miss., and Wilmington, N.C., where it will increase by 46 cents. AT&T said this "charge is to recover a portion of the amount your local broadcasters charge AT&T to carry their channels."
On the voice end, the monthly price for the AT&T's Voice 1000 plan will be $30 for all customers and the Voice 250 plan will increase by $2 to $27 a month.
For more:
- DSL Reports has this article
- see AT&T's pricing page
Related articles:
AT&T extends fiber to over 950K business locations, enhances on-demand Ethernet reach
AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink special access pricing practices face new FCC investigation
AT&T's Stephens: We're encouraged by our 1 Gig progress
AT&T converts nearly 80% of broadband subscribers to its IP platform
This article was updated on Dec. 15 with additional information from AT&T.