Average US inflation since 1995 has been 2.2%; in the same time, cable TV prices have increased by 5.8% per year on average.
It's not just averages. In every single year since at least 1995, cable companies have had rate increases that exceeded inflation.
The data comes from an FCC report
The cable industry has been rocked by a massive and accelerating drop off in subscription, driven in part by the online alternatives to cable TV — Youtube, streaming services like Netflix, etc. But clearly part of the story is this price-gouging, monopolistic practices, network shenanigans, and the worst customer service practices of any industry.
It's almost as though operating without competition makes companies into bloated, inefficient sociopaths who hate their customers and view them as inconvenient, ambulatory piggy banks to be raided.
Back in 1995, cable cost an average of just $22.35 a month. Now it’s up to an average of $69.03, a 208.9% rise. Inflation alone can’t account for nearly so much change, as inflation has changed by just 55.8% over that same period. As you’d expect, the year-by-year data looks similar. On average, cable prices rose 5.8% each year. Inflation rose at an average of 2.2% per year. There were even two years that inflation did not grow (2009 and 2015), but cable prices went right on rising in those years.
REPORT ON CABLE INDUSTRY PRICES [FCC]
Cable Prices Have Risen Faster Than Inflation For Each Of The Past 20 Years
[Stephen Lovely/Cordcutting]
(via /.)
