After signing a major program licensing renewal with Disney last week, Altice USA is reportedly raising prices of pay-TV services across tiers in its Optimum footprint.
According local Connecticut news platform The Hour, the cable operator has begun informing Optimum customers in its region that the price of the “Broadcast Basic” tier will be increasing by as much as $6 a month.
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Surcharges are going up, too. Previously, Altice only charged new Basic customers the $4-a-month “broadcast TV” surcharge. But starting with the November billing cycle, legacy subscribers to the tier will see the surcharge on their bills, as well.
Sports surcharges, meanwhile, will increase $1 to $2 a month, depending on the tier.
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Explaining the increases to Connecticut regulators, Altice cited the usual “escalating fees charged by sports networks and broadcasters”
Altice reps didn’t immediately respond to FierceCable’s inquiries.
The rate increases probably aren’t directly tied to Altice’s renewal of its Disney contract, which calls for the cable operator to carry every channel in the pricey ESPN networks portfolio.
Altice also raised pay-TV fees by 3.4% across the board in October of last year.
Altice faces intense pressure in its Optimum footprint, not only from Fios operators Verizon and Frontier and satellite TV companies DirecTV and Dish Network, but also from an array of well-infiltrated over-the-top services.