Comcast to spread cost of CableCARD set top boxes to cable subscribers
If you’re a Comcast cable subscriber, you should be aware of an upcoming price increase to your monthly cable bill. On July 1st, the FCC will finally enact the integration ban which requires cable companies to provide CableCARD compatible set top boxes or CableCARDs themselves to new or existing subscribers that want them for their own television sets or personal DVRs like TiVo. This change in the law will require cable operators to stockpile new set top boxes with CableCARD support built right in. In order to recoup the costs of obtaining new set top boxes, Comcast plans on applying incrementally higher fees across all markets.
According to Sena Fitzmaurice, Comact Senior Director of Communications for Government, “We’ll recover our costs”.
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association predicts that the work necessary to enable set top boxes to utilize CableCARDs amounts to approximately $72 dollar to $93 dollars per set-top box. This translates to approximately $2-3 dollars more per month per subscriber.
The real kicker in the Comcast scenario is their intention to charge everyone with the same increase - whether the subscriber has a CableCARD enabled box or not. Heck - if that’s the case, all Comcast subscribers should just ask for the new set-top box!
I’m not on Comcast myself but I can’t wait to hear what Time Warner has in store for this FCC rule.
[Check it out via HomeTheater Mag]