JAY — Time Warner Cable is increasing prices across its service area, including Maine, Andrew Russell, communications manager for the Northeast, said.

Effective March 1, basic and standard video service will increase by $2.50 per month and customers with digital-only service will increase $5 per month, which includes basic and standard service, the letter states.

Customers with two or three services will see an increase of $3 and cable cards will increase from $2 to $2.50 per month, according to the letter.

Jay Town Manager Ruth Cushman received a letter from the company in January advising her of the increases. Much like other communities in Maine, the town has a franchise agreement with the company, she said.

“Sixty-seven percent of customers in Maine won’t see a change in the monthly price of their Time Warner Cable services, because they are in a promotional package,” Russell said. “There is also no change in the price of Time Warner Cable Internet or Home Phone services.”

For customers whose bills will change, the average total bill increase is 2.6 percent across the market, the letter to Cushman said.

Customers were to get letters notifying them of the price changes.

The new prices reflect dramatically higher programming costs, especially for local broadcast channels and sports programming, additional programming and features as well as investments in the Time Warner Cable network and customer service, the letter states. In recent years, the cost of cable programming has grown at double the pace of the price of the company’s TV services, it states.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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