The city of Eagan still is unhappy with recent Comcast price increases for television services and equipment — and even more displeased with its inability to keep a lid on such hikes.

It said so this week in a strongly worded letter to Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, with copies sent to Sen. Al Franken, the Federal Communications Commission and others in Washington, D.C.

Comcast, Eagan said, is raising prices with impunity since it — in the view of city officials — has a near-monopoly on TV service in that suburb. Internet-service rival CenturyLink does not provide comparable television offerings, it points out, and satellite-TV penetration isn’t high enough to create a truly competitive arena.

In the letter, Eagan asks for the right to curb such Comcast behavior, among other things.

Comcast, in a statement, said, “Contrary to the city’s assertions, effective competition is well established in the city of Eagan.”

The city’s protest to the feds was prompted by several recent Comcast moves.

First, the company began charging $2 monthly fees for digital-terminal adapters, or DTAs, the devices that some customers need to continue receiving Comcast programs if they do not use full-featured cable-television boxes.

Second, Comcast raised prices for its TV service in the Twin Cities for 2013 by an average of 3.3 percent for all packages. Eagan’s own analysis reveals increases of between 2.2 percent and 142.5 percent, depending on the package.

These developments sparked complaints from Eagan residents, according to the letter signed by Mayor Mike Maguire.

Eagan finds itself in a bind, the letter said, because it lacks the power to regulate such pricing. Certain other municipalities can do so.

Eagan said it once had this power but it lost it when the FCC “determined that enough residents subscribed to satellite television to satisfy ‘effective competition’ rules,” according to the letter.

Eagan disagrees, noting that satellite service lacks city-specific channels, and has other shortcomings that don’t position it as an effective Comcast competitor.

With “limited satellite penetration and no competition from local telephone companies, cable rates have risen and consumers have not been protected,” the letter argued.

Eagan is asking the feds to “restore local authority to regulate cable service equipment rates.” It also wants cable and satellite services to be more transparent in making their pricing and equipment fees fully and plainly known to consumers.

Comcast, in its statement, said it “strives to bring Eagan consumers — as well as those in every other community we serve — a wide variety of product and service choices in an ever-increasingly competitive marketplace.”

Philadelphia-based Comcast is the primary cable and Internet provider throughout the Twin Cities.

MORE INFO

Read Eagan’s Comcast letter to Sen. Amy Klobuchar: bitly.com/eaganletter

Comcast plan to charge for device causes confusion, controversy: bitly.com/DTAs

Comcast rate increase masked by ‘drip pricing’:

bitly.com/dripprices