“They’re pirates! It’s just terrible,” Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, said Monday of Comcast’s announcement that it will raise cable television rates in Evanston about 7 percent next month.
“They’re pirates! It’s just terrible,” Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, said Monday of Comcast’s announcement that it will raise cable television rates in Evanston about 7 percent next month.
The cable company is required to advise the city of its rate increase plans, but except for basic cable service, the city has no control over what the company charges.
The basic cable rate will go up 3.75 percent while other rate plans will go up by varying, but universally higher, amounts.
Comcast says its not changing rates for high speed Internet or digital phone service, so the company estimates the total bill for its average customer will increase 3.6 percent.
City Facilities Director Max Rubin said, “I think we have the lowest basic cable rate of any of the surrounding communities, but the rest of the cable services cost a bundle.” But he noted that the city does collect a five percent franchise fee on cable television bills.