HERMITAGE Adelphia tells customers about increase in cable bill

The higher fees are expected to bring more revenue to communities.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Adelphia cable television subscribers will see their rates go up with the June bill.
The company has informed its 21,000 subscribers that the cost of its basic service, 65-channel package will rise by 7.5 percent, from $37.85 to $40.69 per month.
It's been more than a year since its rates increased, the company said.
Adelphia is the cable provider for 10 Shenango Valley municipalities, and the 1999 franchise agreement it negotiated with those municipalities guarantees them an annual "franchise fee" of 5 percent of gross sales of all cable products within their municipal borders.
That's amounted to a substantial amount of money for the larger municipalities.
Franchise fees
Hermitage, for example, received just over $142,500 in franchise fees in 2002, while neighboring Sharon got $135,000. Farrell received $52,000.
Officials expect their franchise fees to rise in direct proportion to the cable rate increase.
Adelphia offers various levels of service, including digital cable, and rates are increasing in all areas.
Broadcast service, which includes 24 channels, including both an Adelphia message channel and a community bulletin board, will rise from $11.76 to $13.65, or 16 percent.
Satellite Service, which offers 41 other channels including Disney and some major movie channels such as TNT, USA and AMC, will rise from $26.09 to $27.04, or 3.6 percent.
Combined, the Broadcast and Satellite services form Adelphia's Basic Service package. Their combined fee of $37.85 will rise to $40.69, or 7.5 percent.
Digital packages are increasing $2 across the board. The smallest package will go from $11.95 to $13.95 a month, while the most expensive package will rise from $33.95 to $35.95.
Local municipalities can't control what cable companies charge for their services, but they can negotiate franchise agreements that require those companies to pay them annual fees for sales of their products.