Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has recently announced several price increases that will be occurring in 2018 or have already occurred in the hopes of remaining competitive with low-cost streaming services like those provided by Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which does sound a bit counterintuitive but according to Comcast will only result in an overall 2.2% price increase to its customers.
Included in the price increases are Comcast’s triple-play packages (which will increase by $5 a month), its broadcast television channels (a $0.50 per month increase), the regional sports fees (increasing by $1.75 a month), modem rental fees (increasing by $1 a month), hourly services charges for installations and service calls (increasing by $4.80), and its Internet packages (the Internet Plus package by $3 a month and the Performance Pro package by $5 a month). All Comcast customers will be made aware of any price change affecting them.
According to Comcast, these price increases are partially due to the increased fees charged to companies like Comcast by the entertainment companies in control of the consumer media. As most Comcast customers are currently on promotions or in contracts, they won’t actually see these fees come into play until after the promotion or contract ends and Comcast feels that overall, the customers won’t really mind.
So far, that does seem to be the case, at least as far as investors go. Shares closed Tuesday’s trading at $41.07, putting it up $1.18, or 2.95%, from the previous closing price of $39.89. Perhaps this is because, for the most part, none of these extra fees have been processed yet. Once people do start fully paying the increased prices there may be more of an upheaval. Then again, there may not – after all, 2.2% is only 2.2%.
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