Mediacom Communications Company Correspondence Copyrighted
December 2, 2019
City of Dubuque Consent Items # 5.
ITEM TITLE: Mediacom Communications Company
SUMMARY: Correspondence from Lee Grassley, Senior Managerof
Government Relations for Mediacom Communications
Company, informing the City of rate adjustments being
implemented on or about December 22, 2019.
SUGGESTED DISPOSITION: Suggested Disposition: Receive and File
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Mediacom Rate Change Supporting Documentation
*
Med�acom £
November 20, 2019
Mr. Kevin Firntahl
City of Dubuque
50 W. 13th Street
Dubuque, lowa 52001-4864
Dear Mr. Firntahl:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that, on or about December 22, 2019, Mediacom will be
implen�enting the following rate adjustments:1
Product: Old Rate: New Rate: Net Change:
Local Broadcast Station
SurchargeZ $14.64 $16.19 $1.55
Regional Sports Surcharge $3.34 $3.41 $0.07
Regional Sports Surcharge
post new RSN Launches3 $3.41 $5.46 $2.05
N Essentials $59.95 $69.95 $10.00
Family TV $78.12 $82.62 $4.50
Prime TV $94.12 $98.62 $4.50
HD DTA $3.99 $6.00 $2.01
SD DTA $3.99 $6.00 $2.01
Sta rz $11.00 $12.00 $1.00
Xtream Bronze $169.98 $179.98 $10.00
Xtream Silver $189.98 $199.98 $10.00
Xtream Gold $209.98 $219.98 $10.00
Xtream Platinum $229.98 $239.98 $10.00
N Essentials 60 $149.98 $159.98 $10.00
Family 60 Plus $209.98 $219.98 $10.00
Trip Charge $29.00 $49.00 $20.00
In addition, several packages which are no longer offered for sale to new customers will also be going up
in price by$10.00 per month. Those include the Elite Pak, Whole Home Pak, Performance Pak and One _
Star Packages.
The decision to make price adjustments is always a difficult one as we know when we raise prices, we lose
customers. This is an issue plaguing our entire industry. Analysts project that cable and satellite
companies will lose over 6 million video customers in 2019 and over 6 million more in 2020. AT&T/DirecN
lost over 1.4 million customers in the 3rd quarter of 2019 alone.
�Depending on the terms of each customer's promotional package,these rate changes may not impact a customer until
their current promotional package expires.
Z Mediacom bills monthly in advance. As a result,the increases for both the Local Broadcast Surcharge and Regional
Sports Surcharge are based on our best estimate of the cost increases our company will incur for broadcast and
regional sports programming. Mediacom will "true up" customer bills in a subsequent month if it turns out that our
estimate was too high or too low.
;On or about February 22,2020, Marquee Sports will be launching in certain markets in Illinois,Indiana and Iowa.
Despite massive customer migration away from traditional pay TV services,the owners of the channels we
carry continue to raise their rates. Instead of adjusting their prices to help slow customer losses,the
channel owners are getting even more aggressive, driving prices higher and higher for the remaining cable
and satellite customers. At the same time, many of these same channel owners are making much of their
content available direct to consumer over the internet in smaller packages and, in many cases,for better
prices.
The long-term effect of all the price increases pushed down by the channel owners onto cable and satellite
companies is that traditional video bundle is no longer affordable.This has forced many consumers to
migrate to web based over-the-top services for their entertainment needs.
It is becoming more evident that the future of video is over the internet, so we have tried to make it easy
for customers to access content online by deploying consumer friendly TiVo devices that easily navigate
between traditional television and over-the-top services like Netflix and Hulu. In addition, we have
continued to invest in our fiber-rich network to make sure our customers have access to the ultra-fast
broadband speeds needed to support bandwidth intensive online video services they are increasingly
using.
To accommodate price sensitive customers, Mediacom introduced a lower cost broadband service earlier
this year called Access Internet 60 with retail price of$29.99. In addition, Mediacom has broadly launched
a low-cost internet service for low-income customers featuring 10 Mbps download speeds for$9.95 per
month. The service, called Connect2Compete, is offered in partnership with EveryoneOn and is available
to families with students participating in the National School Lunch Program. Additional information is
available at www.mediacomc2c.com.
Mediacom appreciates the opportunity to continue to serve your community's telecommunications
needs. If there are any questions, please contact me at 319-395-9699 ext. 3461 or email
I�rasslev@mediacomcc.com .
Sin erely�
�k.
Lee Grassley,
Senior Government Relations Manager
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