If you live in the Annapolis area, it sucks to be you.  Last Saturday Comcast hiked their subscriber bills between 2.5-3.5%.  But their hike isn’t the only one.  Verizon FiOS customers also received a nice hike in their rates as much as $10.  Execs are saying the hikes are necessary to keep up with producer-consumer gaps but let’s all be honest about what’s going on.  There are many different variables that are at work here:  inflation, the need for provider profit, and just more people wanting entertainment.

Broadstripe, a subsidiary of Comcast, has offered a different approach.  In order to keep angry customers around, they are offering a program called Broadstripe Forever, allowing customers to freeze their current subscription price.  While only 5% of the customer base has signed up for this, it can also be used as a ploy to retain the customer.  Sure you might be receiving a discount now, but if you want to cancel in one year, you might have to pay a hefty cancellation fee.  Who knows what kind of small-letter print they’ve hidden from you.

It’s inevitable that rates go up.  I mean, when I think back on my childhood, I remember when a soda used to be 25 cents.  Prices just go up and it’s stupid to think that people want the pricing schemes to remain the same.  Everything has a price and the people who bring you the entertainment need to be paid.  It is utterly naïve to say that you will cancel your subscription because of a $5 hike in pricing.  Think about the last time there was a price hike, probably not lately.  But over the past five years or so, other things have gone up.  It’s just a chain reaction in the economy.  Let’s calm down and put down the pitchforks and torches and think about this like civilized people.