It's certainly not on anyone's Christmas wish list, but Crittenden County cable subscribers will start paying more for their television entertainment beginning Dec. 15.
At Monday night's city council meeting, Dale Haney of Mediacom will present to Marion lawmakers the cable company's new rate plan, which will see rates for all packages increasing. The Broadcast Basic plan will increase $2 to $29.95 per month, while the Family Cable package will jump $5 to $65.95. All specialty packages and premium channel subscriptions will also increase. Even a $1 discount for paperless billing will be eliminated.
In a letter to Mayor Mickey Alexander and included in information packets for councilmen and The Crittenden Press, Mediacom's senior manager of government relations, Lee Grassley, blamed the rate hikes on the company's increased costs to offer programming.
"Our programming expenses, particularly with respect to broadcast television channels and live sports content, are escalating at a pace well in excess of inflation," Grassley wrote in the correspondence to the mayor.
"Contrary to public perception, cable companies are reluctant to raise video prices because when we do, we lose subscribers," Grassley later wrote. "Mediacom does not make more money when we raise video rates, since we remit virtually every penny of the increase on to the programmers."
Both the City of Marion and Crittenden Fiscal Court have franchise agreements with Mediacom that allow the cable company to operate within each's jurisdiction. Both government bodies collect a fee from Mediacom for the rights to operate.
