Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) has begun notifying customers in their December billing statements of planned 2015 rate increases.
According to a J.P. Morgan Chase memo sent to investors, Cablevision subscribers will pay an extra dollar on top of the $4.98 they already pay in the form of a "sports surcharge."
The MSO's customers will also pay an additional 85 cents on top of the $6.71 they already pay for cable box rentals.
Cablevision responded with this statement: "In November we announced modest adjustments to 2015 video pricing, representing an average customer bill increase of less than 2 percent. These changes are only a fraction of the rising costs of sports and other programming. Our pricing continues to remain extremely competitive and Optimum TV is the best value in the market."
The memo from J.P. Morgan's Philip Cusick reads, "We would not be surprised to see an additional broadband price increase or modem increase later in the years given the increased utility of [the more than 1 million] Wi-Fi hotspots that Cablevision has deployed."
"Compared to Cablevision's tradition of raising prices in December, the company has recently done some price increases through the year," the memo adds. "The most recent sports surcharge increase was instituted in March 2014, while voice tax pass-through began in 2014."
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