NBC Sports Network is dead, ESPN Classic is dead, and the sports cable bill is going up. Makes total sense.
The wholesale cost of television channels is Mediacom’s largest expense and in the past year, rates from the national networks, broadcast stations, and sports channels, have skyrocketed. Despite our efforts to keep costs down, these increases along with other operating expenses make it necessary for us to adjust our rates effective with your next bill. The Local Broadcast Station Surcharge will increase by $2.46 and the Regional Sports Surcharge will increase by $0.48.
Also, effective with your next bill or at the end of your promotional period, the monthly rate card price for Local TV service will increase by $10.05 and is partially offset by the reduction in price of your primary set-top box which will be reduced to zero and included as part of your video services.
I don’t have a set-top box, so I’ll be getting the full brunt, in addition to the cost of the Internet increase I didn’t ask for a year ago. That’s an increase of about 9% on that portion of the bill.
A 12.5% markup on the “local broadcast surcharge” brings that to $20.54 in eastern Iowa — which adds approximately 18% to the cost of the Local TV-plus-Internet package. If that’s “efforts to keep costs down,” the dispute with Tegna (involving WOI and WQAD), now in its second year, seems counterproductive.