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Rogers Communications to Increase Cable TV and Broadband Pricing

6:10 am on February 20, 2009 | Category: Business, Internet, Telecom Services, Television

After suffering a $138 million loss in the fourth quarter, Canada’s biggest cable company Rogers Communications is hoping to claw its way back into profit by increasing the cost of residential cable and internet services.

Broadband internet rates will increase by 3% to 9%, effective on March 1. Several pay-TV packages will also jump in price, with the cost of basic cable climbing about 5% to $29.99 per month.

The price increases are necessary to “ensure continued investment in our network and programming” and to address “increased costs like those from programming providers,” according to Rogers spokeswoman, Nancy Cottenden.

Over the past year, Rogers’ customer additions have slumped. Even the company’s fast-growing digital phone service, which brought in 65,000 users in the fourth quarter of 2007, added just 40,000 in the final three months of 2008. Analysts attribute this to a weakening economy (particularly in Ontario) as well as aggressive price cuts by incumbent telecom operators like Bell and Telus.

It remains to be seen whether price increases will be enough to push Rogers out of the red, or if it will simply cause more subscribers to jump ship, further hurting the company’s bottom line.

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I just called Rogers and canceled my VIP subscription. I am now only subscribed to Basic Digital TV and at $400 + a year, that is still too expensive for a bunch of useless channels and unlimited infomercials and re-runs. The way things are going I may even have to get rid of Basic Digital TV and follow the news on the internet (not Rogers Internet).
I guess this is what happens when a company has the monopoly on cable and continuously increases the price.
People wake up!

Comment by James Graham — September 20, 2009 #
I have the perfect solution for long suffering Rogers Cable subscribers: Cancel your service and get 100% free Digital HD TV signals, from an Over the air (OTA) antenna system. It can be installed for the price of one years worth of cable service. No subscriptions to pay, no price increases, all the free Local Toronto and most Buffalo TV stations. They the only way to get back at the big Cable/Satellite monopolies, where it hurts them the most, there bottom line!!!!

Comment by Mark — January 25, 2010 #

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