Modem fees are one of the cable industry’s less popular financial innovations but there’s a good reason that cable companies use them: They rake in a lot of money. Reuters reports that Time Warner Cable is jacking up its monthly modem fees from $3.95 to $5.99, which ISI analyst Vijay Jayant tells the publication that could help the company add an additional $150 million per year in revenue. Time Warner Cable is justifying the huge fee increase, which comes less than a year after the company first started charging fees for modems, by saying that the “cost associated with providing the modem” is higher than the company had originally anticipated. All the same, Time Warner Cable’s modem fees are actually a “bargain” compared with rival Comcast, which charges subscribers $7 a month to lease modems.
Time Warner Cable to milk subscribers for an extra $150 million with fee increase
Published Jul 30th, 2013 12:30PM EDT
If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.
This article talks about:
Time Warner Cable
Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.
