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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday September 06 2015, @02:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the why-cable-companies-are-so-hated dept.

Reddit user demian87 recently posted a letter from Comcast notifying him or her of a new Comcast internet access pricing plan being trialed in Fort Lauderdale, the Keys, and Miami, Florida. According to this letter, Comcast will set a limit beginning on October 1 of 300 GB per household per month. Customers who exceed this limit will have to pay $10 for every additional 50 GB needed after that, or sign up for an unlimited data plan for an additional $30 per month.

Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas confirmed that the letter is authentic, along with the company's new unlimited pricing plan. Douglas explained that "the company has trialed three other pricing plans since 2012 when Comcast had a static limit of 250 GB per month."

In a related development reported by the New York Times, Comcast will campaign to win over the quintessential cord-cutter class with new TV services designed to entice them into subscribing to its internet access service. Comcast will begin offering a $15-a-month TV service called Stream that includes broadcast networks and HBO for its internet customers. The new service will be available in Boston, Chicago, and Seattle later this year and across the company's coverage areas in the United States in 2016.

Stream looks similar to the Aereo service that carried over-the-air (OTA) television on top of the internet, but should perform even better because it operates on Comcast's managed network. Aereo lost a court battle to ABC and was forced to shut down, but not before proving that consumers would pay for crystal-clear OTA television delivered over the internet rather than get poor reception with an antenna. Stream improves upon Aereo by bundling a really cheap HBO subscription.

This story, "How Comcast is changing tactics in response to cord cutters" was originally published by Network World.

The article goes on to explore the usage of the majority of Comcast's customers and the expected usage of an average household that has cut the cord on TV service in favor of using only streaming services.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 07 2015, @07:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 07 2015, @07:33PM (#233390)

    Sounds more like they punishing you, and making it not economically feasible to avoid using their TV service if you use their internet service. Providing better service for less cost would be 'winning you over'.

    Hello, FCC, are you paying attention?

    Oh, and i predicted this the first time a 3rd streaming service was even thought of.. ( this is also the only way they can copyright violations via p2p, make it cost )

    Anyone remember the bad old days where you were afraid to login just to check mail due to the bill you would get afterward?