Charter’s hidden “Broadcast TV” fee now adds $197 a year to cable bills
Hidden fee not included in Spectrum’s advertised prices raised yet again. …
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Charter Communications is raising the “Broadcast TV” fee it imposes on cable plans from $13.50 to $16.45 a month starting in August, Stop the Cap reported.
Charter says the Broadcast TV fee covers the amount it pays broadcast television stations (e.g. affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox) for the right to carry their channels. But for consumers, it is essentially a hidden fee because Charter’s advertised TV prices don’t include it.
Charter has raised the fee repeatedly—it stood at $9.95 in early 2019 before a series of price increases. At $16.45 a month, the fee will cost customers an additional $197.40 per year. Charter sells TV, broadband, and phone service under its Spectrum brand name and is the second largest cable company in the US after Comcast.
Charter imposes a smaller Broadcast TV fee on its streaming TV plans, but is raising that charge from $6 to $8.95 a month, Stop the Cap wrote. Charter is also raising the base price of its TV service. “Spectrum’s most popular TV Select package is expected to increase $1.50/month to $73.99/month,” Stop the Cap wrote. “Customers on a promotional pricing plan will not see this rate increase until their promotional pricing expires.”
Charter confirms increase
A Charter spokesperson confirmed the Broadcast TV and TV Select price increases when contacted by Ars today. The Broadcast TV fee change will apparently apply even to customers who are on promotional deals that lock in a price for a set amount of time. Charter told us that promotional prices apply to the “package
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