Following in EchoStar’s footsteps, DirecTV plans to raise the prices of its three standard programming packages by an average of 4 percent on March 1.
DirecTV confirmed reports Tues. that it intends to boost its monthly service rates for new subscribers by as much as 8.7 percent, depending upon which of the three packages they take. The price of the company’s introductory “Total Choice” package will rise $3 to $44.99 a month, while the cost of the “Total Choice Plus” package will go up $4 to $49.99 a month. Plus, the price of “Total Choice Premier” will climb $6 to $99.99 a month.
But existing DirecTV subscribers will pay slightly less than that in some cases. In a notable move, the DBS industry is also trimming the price of its HDTV programming package by $1 to $9.99 a month.
DirecTV blamed the rate hikes on rising expenses for programming. Sounding just like a cable operator, the satellite provider said programming fee increases continue to outpace its customer rates.
EchoStar recently announced that it will raise its subscriber rates by an average of 4 percent on Feb. 1.