Charter makes changes: Expanded Basic up $2 a month; HD tier cut by $3
Charter Communications on Friday announced that it is simplifying its digital TV offerings as it generally holds the line on TV programming prices in changes effective Dec. 1.
Expanded Basic is rising by $2 per month, but Charter's HD Ultra View tier is being cut by $3 per month and many HD channels are being moved off that tier to be included in Expanded Basic and digital packages at no extra cost.
Other TV prices, including Basic service, will stay the same. Internet and phone prices also are not changing.
Charter is replacing its three levels of digital service - Big Value, Bigger Value and Biggest Value - with one level called "Digital Home" and six optional tiers: Digital View, Digital View Plus, Digital Sports View, Faith and Values View, HD Ultra View, and Latino View.
The Expanded Basic increase won't impact customers who already have existing promotional deals or digital packages, said Tim Vowell, Charter director of government relations.
More than half of the company's customers are in a promotion, he said.
Some details of how people in existing deals will be handled remain to be worked out as the digital packages change, and customers with questions should call 1-888-438-2427 or go to www.charter.com, Vowell said.
Expanded Basic is rising from $49.99 to $51.99 per month, but Charter noted that the Big Ten Network was added to the service in August. Expanded Basic cost $31.02 when Charter took over the Madison cable franchise in 2000. (Prices given in this story do not include taxes or fees.)
Digital Home will cost $56.99 and include Basic and Expanded Basic channels, and a digital box.
The current Big Value package of Expanded Basic and non-tier digital channels, plus one digital tier, is $59.99 per month.
All of the digital tiers will cost $5 per month, except Digital View Plus, which will be $10.
Charter's Ultra View HD tier, which includes HD-only channels such as HDNet, HDNet Movies, UniversalHD, Palladia, and Smithsonian-HD, previously cost $8 per month and included all of Charter's HD channels.
Along with cutting Ultra View HD to $5, Charter is removing the HD versions of channels that are part of Expanded Basic from the Ultra View HD tier and making them free for customers who have HD equipment. Those channels include ESPN-HD, ESPN2-HD, TNT-HD, History Channel-HD, A&E-HD, Discovery-HD, FSN Wisconsin-HD, Big Ten Network-HD, TLC-HD, Animal Planet-HD and TBS-HD.
In addition, if a customer subscribes to a premium channel, such as HBO, the customer will receive the related HD programming, such as HBO-HD, at no additional charge.
A digital set-top box, including the interactive guide, costs $5 per month, while an HD, DVR or HD/DVR box is $10. There also is a DVR service fee of $10 per month per DVR box.
Vowell said the company can cut prices, but can't change line-ups or increase prices without notifying customers, who can either give consent for the change, choose different service, or drop service.
AT&T's launch of its U-verse TV and Internet service in the Madison area this week did not impact Charter's decisions, Vowell said.
"All of our decisions were made before their announcement," he said. "We always hold the line on prices to the best of our ability. Our price changes over the last couple of years have focused on the Expanded Basic level of service because it has the least impact on our overall customer base."
Cable customers have been migrating to digital service to be able to get advanced services like HD and Video On Demand, and when bundling with high-speed Internet, which requires digital service.
File photo
Charter Communications is making changes that include raising the Expanded Basic price by $2 a month but cutting Charter's Premium HD tier by $3.
