While services like Netflix and Hulu have made accessing media content more affordable than ever before, the price of cable, somewhat curiously, has continued to rise to unprecedented heights. Not too long ago, a study revealed that the average monthly cost of cable now stands at about $99, a figure which is 39% higher than in 2010.
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Echoing this sentiment, a new report from CutCableToday finds that the price of cable in recent years has grown at a rate that far outpaces the rate of inflation. Specifically, the price of a basic cable package has increased by about 5.9% each and every year over the past 19 years. In contrast, the rate of inflation, year over year, has increased by 2.3%.
The report adds:
Remember, that’s just talking about “basic expanded cable service” packages which are most popular with consumers, not the actual average overall price cable TV customers as a whole are paying. That number is even higher with today’s average cable bill coming in at a hair under $100 a month, increasing by about 8 percent a year since 2010 when customers were paying $71.24 a month, based on information from the Leichtman Research Group. That’s almost 4 times the rate of inflation during that period of time, and things are only getting worse.
Indeed, cable companies like DirecTV and Comcast are attempting to counteract the growing popularity of streaming not by cutting prices, but by raising prices and providing more content and features in the process. As NBC News pointed out a few weeks ago, seemingly no cable subscriber is safe from rising prices, with Time Warner subscribers in particular getting the short end of the stick with a potential bill increase of $10/month looming ahead.
Make sure to hit the source link below for a more detailed look at how the cost dynamics of the cable industry have changed and are continuing to change relative to inflation. It’s an informative read that might have you cutting the cord sooner than you might have initially planned.
