Comcast Communications customers in Illinois are expected to pay a higher rate for watching their favorite tv programs and also for the privilege of having Comcast as their cable tv provider. Beginning in April cable customers can expect to see their monthly rate increase by 3.5%. According to Comcast company officials the rate increase should come as no great surprisre. I mean after all the company will be adding 30 full time jobs in the Peoria district during the course of the year. Comcast also says they will be adding more channels for a good portion of their digital cable customers. What happens if you're not a digital subscriber. Does that mean there's no channel increase for you, only rate increases.
While Comcast professes the current rate hike is necessary for better service, I tend to wonder what else could be behind it. Didn't Comcast just recently absorb or take over all those customers who previously relied on Insight Communication for the tv programming. Whether these two companies engaged in a swap out, buy out or whatever they want to call it, the fact is it couldn't come without a price. Could the new rate hike be a way to help defray the cost of the transaction. The only ones who know the answer to that $64,000 questions is the upper echelon at Comcast.
In closing the only action that would have been a suprise from Comcast would have been NO RATE INCREASE. While no increase would have been nice let's face it, yearly cable tv rate hikes at least for the foreseeable future are here to stay.
