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Optimum profits.

Cablevision customers that managed to keep now-discontinued television packages will soon have to pay an extra $4-7 a month to upgrade to one of several newer packages this summer.

In March 2012, Cablevision dropped many of their “iO” packages in favor of new ones dubbed “Optimum.” The cable company originally let current customers keep the older, cheaper packages, but starting June 3 that will be no more.

Michael Chowaniec from Cablevision’s Government Affairs department notified Connecticut regulators the company was preparing to force customers into newer Optimum packages at a higher cost.

“Legacy customers migrating to comparable packages will experience a rate increase, but will gain between 6 to 23 linear networks and/or premium channels and enhancements and additional On Demand services,” Chowaniec wrote. “In many cases, the rate change is significantly less than the price of the additional channels and services, if purchased on an a la carte basis.”

“Customers on promotions for a legacy video package that is being eliminated will be able to keep their promotional rate through the end of the promotional period and will be migrated at the end of the promotion,” he added.

The rate increases come after an earlier $5 rate hike for broadband service and the introduction of a $2.95 monthly “sports programming fee” paid by most customers. That represents a total rate increase for some of up to $15 a month in 2013.

Life has been getting tougher for Cablevision customers over the past few months. Optimum Rewards members are losing their “Free Movie Tuesday” and discount ticket benefits with the sale of Cablevision’s 47 movie theater chain Clearview Cinemas.

Cablevision’s ruling family even canceled the July 4 fireworks display run for years from their home on Oyster Bay, N.Y. “for personal reasons.”

More than a year ago, Comcast temporarily suspended its nationwide 250GB usage cap to study its impact and consider what to do about increasing broadband traffic.

For the majority of Comcast customers, this means the provider has ditched its usage cap altogether, allowing customers to use their broadband service without limits.

“This is the way it should have been all along, especially considering how much I spend every month for Comcast broadband,” says Comcast customer Geoff Cox. “I think usage caps at these prices are unacceptable. If Comcast stops antagonizing me, I will reward them with more of my business.”

For Cox, that meant one week after the cap was lifted, he upgraded his service from Performance to Blast. His usage did not immediately increase that much and Comcast now gets more of his money.

“We do about 280GB a month today between me, my wife and our four kids,” Cox tells Stop the Cap! “When the third one becomes a teenager, we will probably upgrade again to Extreme because of all the streamed media being used in this house.”

But if Comcast brings back the cap, Cox will downgrade his service back to where he started.

“AT&T U-verse isn’t much competition for Comcast broadband because U-verse is slower and their 250GB cap I can see getting enforced when AT&T smells money,” Cox tells us. “As I have told my family, usage caps are not acceptable and we have to take a stand somewhere and let them know caps will cost them business, not earn them more money.”

Whether Comcast will listen remains unknown. The company has said little about its usage cap program since suspending it May 17, 2012. At that time, Comcast did say they had not given up on usage caps in principle — they just wanted a more flexible approach while managing those caps.

Last May, the company announced two trials to test which direction Comcast would take with respect to limiting broadband usage.

In Nashville, Comcast increased the usage allowance for all tiers to 300GB per month and planned to sell additional gigabytes in increments of $10 per 50GB;

In Tucson, Comcast adopted variable usage allowances depending on the type of service a customer selected:

• Economy 300GB
• Economy Plus 300GB
• Internet Essentials 300GB
• Performance Starter 300GB
• Performance 300GB
• Blast 350GB
• Extreme 50 450GB
• Extreme 105 600GB

The rest of Comcast customers get to test unlimited service, at least until the company determines whether it actually needs caps at all. Cox does not think the company does.

“Cable broadband upgrades have really made neighborhood congestion a non-issue and while the company keeps raising the price of broadband service, their costs keep dropping.”

Rogers customers may now have to pay to read their monthly bills.

Eastern Canada’s biggest cable company wants you to use your broadband service to check your balance, unless you are willing to pay a $2 monthly “paper bill fee.”

Rogers had charged new wireless customers (along with anyone making changes to their account) a $2 paper billing fee since 2011, but now everyone will pay if they want a hard copy.

At the same time the company is adding a new billing fee, it is taking away two popular cable channels in a move the company describes as part of “our ongoing commitment at Rogers to deliver a superior television experience.”

Fewer channels might bring better value if the company reduced the cost of your cable package, but don’t worry about that:

“Please be assured that there will be no change to your Rogers cable TV rates and all other aspects of your service(s) will remain the same,” a company letter said. “We apologize for any inconvenience these changes may cause.”

The inconvenience will be greatest for fans of BBC World who will now have to upgrade to a high-end package to keep watching the popular global news channel. It was stripped out of the basic lineup.

Spike is also getting the spike, kicked into a higher-end package at the same time existing customers see no corresponding decrease in their rates.

The sneaky price increase is not going over well with many Rogers customers, according to the Toronto Star.

Back in the fall of 2010, British billionaire Alki David fired a salvo against major broadcast networks in the United States and United Kingdom with the introduction of FilmOn, an online cable system offering unlimited viewing of broadcast networks from both countries for around $10 a month. By early 2011, lawsuits from various networks forced the removal of the most-watched channels, and most of the incentive for subscribers to keep paying for the service.

But David has never given up on FilmOn, and borrowing a page from Aereo’s business plan, he has brought back most of the major American networks on his relaunched platform, dubbed AereoKiller.

The company claims it is now using individual over-the-air antennas to receive broadcast stations from the New York or Washington, D.C. area, selling 24/7 streaming access for $9.99 per month or $99 a year. DVR service is sold at prices ranging from $2.95 a month to $190 a year, depending on the number of hours recorded.

Among the stations included:

New York

• WCBS (CBS)
• WNBC (NBC)
• WNYW (FOX)
• WABC (ABC)
• Bounce TV (via WWOR subchannel)
• WPIX (CW)
• WNET (PBS)/WNET-Kids
• WNJU (Telemundo)

Washington, D.C.

• WRC (NBC)
• WTTG (FOX)
• WJLA (ABC)
• WUSA (CBS)

There seem to be no geographic restrictions to prevent out of area viewers from subscribing, and FilmOn offers viewing on the desktop, as well as through iOS and Android apps.

David

FilmOn may have avoided streaming west coast stations because a California court found in favor of broadcasters who sued to shut down the operation three years earlier. But it ultimately will not keep David’s upstart service out of the courts in the east.

Last week, three major television networks and Washington, D.C. station owner Allbritton Communications filed suit against FilmOn for streaming signals from the nation’s capital without permission.

Based on the track record of earlier ventures, customers may want to avoid subscribing at the annual package price. Historically, broadcasters have fought and won temporary restraining orders that block the streaming services until the case makes its way through legal proceedings. Aereo, which streams New York area television stations exclusively to New York City customers has proven the exception and continues to run, at least for now.

Broadcasters consider stopping “dime-sized” antenna farm streaming services like Aereo and AereoKiller a top priority, because networks and local stations earn lucrative retransmission consent rights fees from cable, satellite, and telco-TV providers used by at least 90 percent of the viewing audience. Should these alternative technologies be found legal and not in violation of copyright, pay television providers could potentially license and incorporate similar technology into their respective set-top boxes and avoid paying license fees to station and network owners.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/FilmOn Introduction 5-13.mp4[/flv]

FilmOn’s introductory promotional video features some boastful claims from founder Alki David that are perhaps more wishful thinking than reality, but PlayOn has persisted despite broadcaster lawsuits by creating and distributing original live and recorded programming.  (8 minutes)