WOW Raises Misleading 'Broadcast TV Fee' to $12.65 covertly raise the advertised rate post sale by breaking out a part of the cost of doing business (programming costs) and burying it below the line. Most cable providers have been using this fee to quietly raise rates ever since. It's false-advertising, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a US regulator (from either party) that cares. Users in our Wide Open West (WOW) forum note that the company is raising the rate of its "Broadcast TV fee" from $10.40 to $12.65 per month starting June 1st. As we've covered extensively in the past , cable providers in 2013 began using this fee topost sale by breaking out a part of the cost of doing business (programming costs) and burying it below the line. Most cable providers have been using this fee to quietly raise rates ever since. It's false-advertising, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a US regulator (from either party) that cares.







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Most recommended from 28 comments



MDA

Auto Negotiating

Premium Member

join:2013-09-10

Minneapolis, MN ·Comcast XFINITY

Netgear CM600

Asus RT-AC66U B1

20 recommendations MDA Premium Member Just cut it out, cable TV... moulder3

join:2007-05-21

Boston, MA 12 recommendations moulder3 Member Almost $13??? Almost $13/month to retransmit local broadcast stations?!? That's beyond the pale.



Not that I believe it really costs that much for retrans rights, but I wonder why cable cos don't have antenna jacks on their DVR boxes for customers who want to get OTA broadcasts. Make it easy for them to integrate into the DVR!

maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 12 recommendations maartena Premium Member Stop the bogus fees!



They advertise you $19.95 for basic TV, but when you get the bill.... it will read $54.75. Why? Because you have to pay $10 for a DVR, $6 for a second tuner, $7 for "broadcast tv surcharge", $6 for the "sports surcharge" = $48,95, and then a bunch of local taxes and fees they need to charge....



Say you walk down the street, and see a sign that says: Ice Cold BEER, $3!

It being a hot day, you being done with work, you think to yourself: That's a great price for a beer, lets have one!



So you enter the bar, sit down on a barstool, and order a pint of nice cold beer!



Then you get the bill and it says:



Beer: $3.00

- Glass usage fee: $0.50

- Glass washing surcharge: $0.75

- Airconditioning surcharge: $0.75

- Liquor License Recovery fee: $1.00

- Entertainment surcharge: $0.50

- Tap System Maintenance Fee: $0.50



Total: $7.00



Would you accept that? The price on the sign outside CLEARLY said $3 for beer, and of course you didn't read the piece of paper with incredible tiny print explaining all the charges that was taped right under the sign. I think most of us would find this unacceptable and refuse to pay. At the very least you would get a manager involved and if you couldn't get the beer for $3 as advertised.... you would pay up the $7, leave, and NEVER come back to that bar again.



Why are we continuing to accept this from our cable companies? Because sports is our preciousssssss and we must have it? Using that logic, the cable TV companies can pretty much charge whatever the hell it wants, and you would pay it because: (insert favorite sports team here).





The only reason cable providers do this is so they can still say that their television is some cheap price, and subsequently blame the programmers for the high surcharges.They advertise you $19.95 for basic TV, but when you get the bill.... it will read $54.75. Why? Because you have to pay $10 for a DVR, $6 for a second tuner, $7 for "broadcast tv surcharge", $6 for the "sports surcharge" = $48,95, and then a bunch of local taxes and fees they need to charge....Say you walk down the street, and see a sign that says: Ice Cold BEER, $3!It being a hot day, you being done with work, you think to yourself: That's a great price for a beer, lets have one!So you enter the bar, sit down on a barstool, and order a pint of nice cold beer!Then you get the bill and it says:Beer: $3.00- Glass usage fee: $0.50- Glass washing surcharge: $0.75- Airconditioning surcharge: $0.75- Liquor License Recovery fee: $1.00- Entertainment surcharge: $0.50- Tap System Maintenance Fee: $0.50Total: $7.00Would you accept that? The price on the sign outside CLEARLY said $3 for beer, and of course you didn't read the piece of paper with incredible tiny print explaining all the charges that was taped right under the sign. I think most of us would find this unacceptable and refuse to pay. At the very least you would get a manager involved and if you couldn't get the beer for $3 as advertised.... you would pay up the $7, leave, and NEVER come back to that bar again.Why are we continuing to accept this from our cable companies? Because sports is our preciousssssss and we must have it? Using that logic, the cable TV companies can pretty much charge whatever the hell it wants, and you would pay it because: (insert favorite sports team here).

WHT

join:2010-03-26

Rosston, TX 3 recommendations WHT Member Money Grab or Recovery I was about to say it was a plain and simple money grab by the OTA stations. It costs them zero (other than costs for facilities and transmitters) to add more eyeballs to watch - hundred or a thousand viewers costs the same. BUT...the more viewers, the more revenue from advertisers -- and *that* is what pays the bills.



OTOH it might be like the newspapers' paywall. With newspapers loosing monthly subscriptions for delivered to your door print from reading their paper from the internet, they jack their articles behind a paywall to recover lost subscription revenues. It follows OTA stations want to recover money lost to online video content.