Starting April 1, Cablevision will charge its video subscribers an additional $2.98 a month to help offset the increased costs associated with sports programming.
Cablevision’s sports programming surcharge will apply to customers that subscribe to its “Family” or “Value” packages or above. Cablevision said the surcharge covers a small portion of its overall sports programming costs and that sports channels represented more than one-third of total programming costs.
“We are very focused on the price our customers pay for our services and the value we deliver,” said Bradley Feldman, Cablevision’s vice president of video product management. “We have not raised our cable television prices in more than two years, even as we have added channels, on-demand content, new TV to Go services and other benefits. Unfortunately, the rising cost of programming has resulted in this sports surcharge, which is similar to those introduced by other TV providers.”
Verizon and DirecTV, which both compete against Cablevision in the New York metro area, also recently started charging more for sports programming. DirecTV charges an additional $2 a month for its current New York subscribers and $3 for new customers. Verizon charges its FiOS users $2.42 a month.
Cablevision is also implementing a $2-per-month increase to the price of its Optimum en Espanol Spanish-language package, while the rate of commercial cable television service offered through Optimum Business will increase by $4 per month.
