If January is Coming, So are Video Subscription Price Hikes

Every January, it seems, providers of video entertainment raise their prices, typically outpacing the rate of inflation.

For the most part, that remains the case for 2013.

DirecTV plans to increase the prices of its programming packages by an average of 4.5 percent, starting Feb. 7, 2013, a move DirecTV attributed to  higher programming costs.

The company said the programming costs it pays to owners of television channels will increase about eight percent next year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Dish Network will increase the price of its core TV bundles between seven percent and 20 percent in January 2013, with most packages rising $5 a  month.

“As an industry we have seen increases in double-digit percentages,” said Dish spokesman John Hall. 

AT&T U-verse prices also are going up in 2013. 



In 2012, Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T  raised rates as well. If nothing changes, NPD expects the average subscription video bill to reach $123 by 2015 and $200 by 2020.

Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett points out that, over the last five years, programming costs at DirecTV have risen 32 percent, for example. 

But perhaps more importantly, those increases are accelerating, with costs rising upwards of 10 percent year-over-year. 

"This is a train wreck in the making,"  Moffett has said.