Business & Tech

Frontier Communications Hikes FiOS Cable Rates

The increase will affect about 2,600 Redmond customers, according to the city.

About 2,600 Frontier Communications customers in Redmond could see their FiOS cable TV bills rise as much as 92 percent.

Patrick Hirsch, the city’s video communications manager, said customers holding current contracts won’t see their rates increased until those contracts expire, but then they'll have to decide whether to accept the new rates or switch services.

As of Friday, rates for FiOS’ local service package will nearly double to $24.99, up from $12.99. Its TV Prime HD service, which includes 220 channels of programming, will rise to $94.99, up from $64.99, according to a staff report on the issue provided to Redmond Mayor John Marchione and the City Council.

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Frontier has said it will offer free DIRECTV to customers through 2011, but the city’s cable access channels are not available via DIRECTV. So far, the company’s broadband Internet and telephone rates remain unchanged.

Connecticut-based Frontier has instituted the rate hikes for its customers in Oregon and Washington, citing increased programming costs, and leading to speculation that it will cease to be a viable competitor to Comcast in the cable television arena.

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In Redmond, nearly all the public programming that the two cable companies offer are also available via the city’s website, Hirsch said, so customers who switch to DIRECTV still will have access to that programming.

So far, in advance of the change, Hirsch said the city hasn’t fielded many calls from concerned residents and doesn’t plan an information campaign. But he added that it’s possible many people won’t notice the change immediately.

“We’re a neutral party,” Hirsch said, explaining that FCC restrictions give the city no authority to regulate cable rates because there are two entities competing for cable subscribers. According to the staff report, even the FCC doesn’t reserve the right to regulate fees in competitive cable markets.

Though it’s difficult to directly compare rates between Comcast and Frontier packages because they offer slightly different products, Hirsch said the general consensus is that Frontier’s rates will be higher than Comcast’s across the board by about 10 percent.

“It’s almost certain that Comcast won’t be too quiet about it,” and likely will respond with a marketing campaign to attract Frontier customers, he said.


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