Washington, D.C. (November 27, 2006) -- Comcast has told customers in several states that it will raise monthly cable bills by as much as 6.5 percent starting January 1.

The price hikes, revealed over the weekend in several newspapers across the country, confirms suspicions published last week by TVPredictions.com.

TVPredictions.com reported that Washington state customers were told their bills would increase next year -- and that in the past -- Comcast has first tipped off plans to raise monthly fees nationally by revealing a price hike in a few regions.

Since publication of the TVPredictions.com article, newspapers in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Richmond, VA have reported that customers there have received similar notifications of a price increase.
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A Comcast spokeswoman tells The Denver Post that cable rates are set locally so prices may not rise in each market. She added that the increase will not occur in Internet or digital telephone services.

Comcast officials in Washington state cited the addition of more services, including High-Definition TV, as a reason for the price hike.

"We've more than doubled the amount of viewing choices for customers who now have the most HDTV and VOD (video-on-demand) viewing options with 100 hours of HD on demand and nearly 7,000 video on demand titles each month," Steve Kipp, a Comcast vice president of communications, told The Everett Herald.