2 Cable Companies Plan Rate Increases

Cable rates will be going up in January in areas served by two San Fernando Valley providers.

Chatsworth-based CVI, which serves about 100,000 subscribers in the West Valley and the city of San Fernando, will raise its basic monthly rate from $27.57 to $30.37. In other changes, the company will add The History Channel and MSNBC and substitute superstation WWOR for WGN.

“We’ve gotten a few calls,” said David Auger, CVI’s vice president and general manager, but he said the callers have not been upset over the rate hike. “The tone of the calls has been thanking us for adding these new channels.”

Falcon Cable customers in Malibu and Topanga will pay $29.75 starting in January, up from $26.59. The company also serves half of Calabasas and a portion of Woodland Hills, and recently hiked the monthly bill there from $25.16 to $29.64.

Falcon is in the process of adding The History Channel, ESPN2, The Food Network, f/x and The California Channel, said Malibu regional manager Susan Booker.

“We made this move to keep pace with inflation and increasing programming costs,” Booker said. It will be Falcon’s first increase in two years, she added.

The federal government put price controls on cable rates in 1992, forcing some companies to reduce their rates. But earlier this year, cable companies were deregulated, and rates allowed to rise.