Cox Communications’ cable television and Internet customers have begun seeing higher bills as the local cable provider implements its most recent round of rate increases.
For 40 percent of Cox customers, the rate increase is $3. For the rest, the figure falls between $3 and a maximum of $9.12, though the high end of that scale would only be for customers with every affected service, Cox spokeswoman Sharon Kleinpeter said.
“We haven’t had a price increase in 19 months,” she said, citing rising programming costs as the culprit.
“Most of the time we try to absorb that as much as possible but these ultimately factor in when we have to” raise prices, she said.
The increase, originally disclosed last month, affects the parishes of East and West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston, Lafayette, East Feliciana, Acadia, Iberia, Iberville, St. James, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion.
Cox has 190,000 customers in the Baton Rouge market and 117,000 customers in the Acadiana market.
Cox’s last rate increase — $3.34 more for basic cable and $2 across the board for its high-speed Internet service — came in August 2006. The company blamed that increase on rising programming and fuel prices and the cost of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.
Cox has increased its senior citizen’s discount from 10 percent to 20 percent, which it says will more than make up for the most recent rate increase’s impact on the elderly.
Cox also said some of its Internet speeds are increasing. While there will be no change in the speed of its Value Tier, the Preferred Tier will increase from 7 Mbps to 9 Mbps and its Premier Tier will increase from 12 Mbps to 15 Mbps.
Kleinpeter said that when Cox’s free Power Boost feature for downloading large files kicks in, those two tiers max out at 12 Mbps and 20 Mbps, respectively.
Cox also added nine new high-definition channels, which will be available next month, including the NFL Network HD, Versus/Golf HD, The Learning Channel HD, Travel Channel HD, History HD, Animal Planet HD, The Weather Channel HD, Cox Sports Television HD and Science Channel HD.
Nonprofit lobbying group TV4US used the occasion Tuesday to issue a statement criticizing the increase and former Gov. Kathleen Blanco for vetoing a bill last year pushed by BellSouth that would allow other cable companies to enter the market.
Mayors and municipalities — including Mayor Kip Holden, even though Baton Rouge’s home rule charter meant it would be unaffected by the law — opposed the bill and won over Blanco, who vetoed it.

Source: The Advocate, CHAD CALDER