AT&T said the monthly rate on some U-verse products will rise in early 2016 in the wake of higher costs of programming and service delivery.
AT&T, which wrapped up its acquisition of DirecTV in late July, announced that the monthly price for U-family and U-family All In tiers will rise by $2.
The following will see an increase by $3 per month: U100, U200, U200 All In, U200 Latino and U200 Latino All In. And the following offerings will go up by $4 per month: U300, U300 All In, U300 Latino, U300 Latino All In, U400, U450, U450 All In, U450 Latino and U450 Latino All In.
Among other changes, each billed non-DVR TV receiver will rise $1 per month, and the Regulatory Video Cost Recovery Charge will increase by 1 cent per month.
AT&T U-verse TV’s Broadcast TV Surcharge will also go up by $1 per month in all markets, except for Detroit, Mich.; Biloxi, Miss.; and Wilmington, N.C., where it will go up by 46 cents per month. “This charge is to recover a portion of the amount your local broadcasters charge AT&T to carry their channels,” the company said.
AT&T tied to soften the blow by noting that it has made some improvements, including TV Everywhere products that now offer more than 270 live channels on mobile devices in the home and more than 205 when subs are on the go.
AT&T shed 92,000 U-verse TV subs in Q3 2015, ending the period with 5.85 million subs in the category, while DirecTV added 26,000. Of note, AT&T is currently focusing on the lower-cost DirecTV platform as its first choice for net adds.
AT&T also noted that the monthly price for its Voice 1000 plan will be $30 for all subs, and the Voice 250 plan will increase by $2, to $27 per month.
All new rates (save for those being paid by customers on U-verse promotional rates) will appear on customer billing statements starting Jan. 28, 2016.
