Cox Communications rep explains rate increase

Government entities, including the Abbeville City Council, do not dictate the price of cable television.
Still, Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said his office has received several calls in regard to recent increases by Cox Communications. The provider’s Essential Starter package increased from $21.99 to $24.99, for example.
“We get a lot of phone calls from the public concerning the rates,” Piazza said during Tuesday’s regular Council meeting.
Piazza invited a representative of Cox Communications, Karmen Blanco, to Tuesday’s meeting to speak on background information on the rate increases. She said those increases can be attributed largely to one thing, content that is provided to the customer.
“Increases are usually predicated on the cost of programming,” Blanco said. “Every single one of the channels represents a programmer. We (Cox) do not control content. We have to purchase the programming wholesale from the programmer and then sell it to our customers.
“The rate that programming costs have gone up far exceeds the rate of inflation.”
The costs are a result of intense negotiations that take place each year.
“Our contracts expire on Dec. 31,” Blanco explained to the Council. “We go into very fierce negotiations with these programmers to keep the prices from being jacked up to the point that consumers cannot afford it.
“We can’t afford to not increase but we don’t increase to the point that they increase.”
Blanco explained that internet service also plays a big role in prices.
“The amount of people using the Internet doubles every two years,” Blanco said. “In order for our system to not be sluggish and slow, it is miles and miles of infrastructures that have to be updated and maintained. It has to be upgraded to handle the capacity.
“That is another major driver in our costs.”
Piazza mentioned that some of the calls the city received were from those on fixed or limited incomes. Blanco said the company does not ignore such situations.
“Although the costs are going up we are sensitive to that,” Blanco said, “especially to the most vulnerable people in our population.”
Blanco said Cox offers senior citizens discounts. One such discount is a 30-percent break for seniors 60 and older who make $24,000 or less. Those seniors can qualify for that discount through the Council on Aging.
“We are very sensitive to seniors and their fixed incomes,” Blanco said. “We try to keep our product in a price range that is affordable to them and doesn’t burden them that much.”
Cox also offers services for families who qualify for free lunches at school.
“We participate in a program called Connect to Compete,” Blanco said. “We have a great deal of concern about the digital divide. Students who do not have Internet in their home are lagging academically behind those who do. Our Connect to Compete is for those families who have children who are on free lunch. They can get high-speed Internet in their home for $9.95 a month.”
Councilman Francis Touchet, District B, thanked Blanco for attending.
“It was very enlightening,” Touchet said. “You did an excellent job of explaining everything to us.”