Atlantic Broadband lowering HD rates

By SHAWN PIATEK
The Tribune-Democrat

December 02, 2008 09:02 pm

— Current customers of the high-definition tier of Atlantic Broadband’s cable services will receive a gift in the form of a price break from the programming provider.
Beginning on Jan. 1, most of Atlantic Broadband’s HD customers will notice their bills have decreased by $8 or more per month depending on their service levels. They will also notice the addition of three new HD channels – History, FOX News and Science Channel – bringing Atlantic Broadband’s total HD lineup to nearly 40 channels.
“We looked at the competitive landscape here for HD services, and we want to position ourselves as being the most competitively priced,” said Dave Dane, vice president and general manager of Atlantic Broadband’s Pennsylvania operations.
“We think we have a solid HD lineup by adding History, FoxNews and the Science Channel, all in HD. In essence, we’re adding more product to the lineup and will be close to 40 channels in HD and a good bit of video on demand in HD.”
Dane said that the new HD rate structure also makes it easier for customers without HD service to upgrade. A customer who now has a digital receiver will only have to switch to a high-definition receiver to receive the HD channels, a cost increase of about $4 per month.
Dane admitted that a small number of current HD subscribers will see a small increase in the cost of their service. But he said the company is making personalized calls to all of those customers to explain how they can save money on their services.
Additionally, Atlantic Broadband plans to continue to add to its HD lineup. Dane said that while the company has plenty of space for adding new channels, it will be selective in which ones it chooses.
“Not every channel is broadcasting 100 percent of the time in HD,” Dane said. “Our strategy is to add a channel when the broadcaster makes a commitment to broadcasting in HD most of the time. We’re not interested in bringing our customers tonnage – we want to bring them quality.”