Flow’s Cable Your Way customers hardest hit by price increases
FLOW customers have discovered that their a-la-carte service Cable Your Way (CYW) is not prix fixe, as they will be the hardest hit with a 66.3 per cent increase in cable rates next month.
CYW, which allows viewers to add specialty channels from a pool of more than 200 channels, will pay an additional $199 up from $300 per channel effective June 1. The company’s Watch Late Bundle and Late Night Plus will also see sharp increases of 53 per cent and 54 per cent, moving from $1,700 to $2,599 and $1,300 to $1,999, respectively.
Viewers of the Watch Spanish Pack programme will face an increase of 54 per cent, moving from the current $650 to $999.
On Wednesday, Flow announced that it would be increasing its cable rates, stating that the company continues to face rising operating expenses from the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar.
“This has caused direct and significant impact to our business that incurs 80 to 90 per cent of its cost in United States dollars. As part of our efforts to continue to deliver only the best services, effective June 1, 2015, there will be price adjustments to some of our Cable TV packages as well as all broadband and telephone services,” the company stated.
Flow’s Watch Starter, a combination of news, music and entertainment, will attract fees of $1,199 up from the current $950, while rental fees will move up an additional $25. In its advisory, the company stated that the adjustment comes after very careful consideration, but could not be avoided given that its last adjustment was back in 2013.
The adjustments, however, will not affect subscribers of the Watch Basic, Basic (Plus), Premium and Ultimate programmes. Additionally Max Pack and Watch Movie viewers remain unaffected.
Flow is now operated by Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) after the completion of an acquisition in March. The company came under fire last month by the Broadcasting Commission which ceased the illegal transmission of 98 channels, citing that Flow was in breach of United States intellectual property rights.
The Broadcasting Commission has issued a directive to the cable licensee for the removal of 19 cable channels from transmission in subscriber packages effective May 31.
