Community Corner

Wyandotte Cable, Internet Rates Are Going Up

Wyandotte cable's expanded basic service will increase, along with the city's Internet service.

Beginning Oct. 1, some Wyandotte residents will see an increase in their cable and Internet bills.

The Wyandotte Municipal Services Commission, which oversees the city’s utilities, voted in July to approve a new rate schedule.

The new rates were announced at Monday night’s city council meeting.

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Residents who subscribe to Wyandotte cable’s expanded basic service will see a $5.15 increase, bringing the price to $40.57 a month.

Residents who use the city’s Internet services also will see an increase. Those who subscribe to the lite-speed service will now pay $28.61 a month, while those who subscribe to the high-speed service will now pay $44.93. These rates include the 5 percent franchise fees that all customers pay.

Find out what's happening in Wyandottewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The price hikes amount to about 12 percent, according to Melanie McCoy, general manager of .

The increases are due to rising programming royalty fees that must be paid to provide the TV service, McCoy said.

Programming costs have risen an average of nearly 10 percent annually over the last seven years, while the cost to subscribers has been kept to less than 3 percent on average each year, McCoy said.

Despite the price hike, the city’s services are still cheaper than similar packages available from competitors, according to Steve Timcoe, Wyandotte’s telecommunications superintendent.

“We look at ourself as a good value,” he said, adding that Wyandotte doesn’t follow the trend of the major competitors that lessen their prices to entice subscribers and then raise the prices later.

Timcoe said about 72 percent of residents subscribe to the city’s cable or Internet.

The number of cable subscribers has dropped over the last decade to about 8,300, Timcoe said. That’s attributed to other companies, such as AT&T U-Verse, which began offering service in Wyandotte about four years ago, he said.

While cable subscribers have dropped, Timcoe said, the number of Internet and digital phone subscribers has risen over the same time frame.

In addition to these rate increases, the commission also recently announced . The commission next plans to evaluate water rates in the city.


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