Cable subscribers to services like Comcast often pay exorbitant fees. It is one of the driving forces of the cord-cutting era. Not only are the cable contracts long and binding, but the fees pile up. Subscribers may not even know where some of those fees come from.



Worse off, the providers might not even know where some of these minuscule charges come from. Of course, the broadcast provider is the one charging the fees. Regardless, Comcast recently told the FCC that it is simply too difficult to explain where some of the fees on users’ bills may come from. 



A Comcast filing with the FCC said the intricacies of these fees are hard for everyday users to get a grasp of. This is in response to the FCC’s request to clarify what people may be charged for. Its official statement to the FCC said it wants to streamline these labels, which could hide the fees further.



“Two aspects of the Commission’s Order impose significant administrative burdens and unnecessary complexity in complying with the broadband label requirements,” read part of <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10608230225212/1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Comcast’s statement</a>.



<a href="https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CR-Cable-Bill-Report-2019.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Consumer Reports</a> found that these fees pocked the cable industry over $28 billion per year. Unsurprisingly, that fee per customer is well above the advertised rate they thought they signed up for. At times, it can be <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/21/comcast-tells-fcc-its-just-too-hard-to-explain-its-bullshit-broadband-and-tv-fees-to-consumers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">24% higher</a>. 



<h2>Cable subscribers on Comcast can use streaming to escape fees</h2>



Individual streaming services are much simpler in how much they charge. For example, <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/paramount-raising-price-to-5-99-and-will-merge-with-showtime-20230523-WST-434307.html">Paramount+ is becoming $5.99</a> at the end of June. That is how much it shows up in bank statements. Granted, cable subscriptions are more complex. There is more hardware, potential phone and internet connections and arguably more users. However, the FCC is simply asking brands like Comcast to demonstrate where all the fees come from. 



Perhaps the lack of clarity is contributing to cable subscriptions in the United States dipping to their <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/us-cable-subscriptions-hit-lowest-number-in-over-30-years-20230522-WST-434195.html">lowest point in the last 30 years</a>. Cable subscriptions are down 7% on an annual basis.



PHOTO: IMAGO / Wirestock

Cable subscribers to services like Comcast often pay exorbitant fees. Yet, the company does not want to say where these fees come from.

Cable subscribers paying fees that Comcast cannot explain

FOX’s main sports channels, FS1 and FS2, are losing subscribers at an alarming rate. According to <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/espn-fox-sports-cable-tv-subscribers-customers-us-households-decline-nielsen/?zephr_sso_ott=e4LgSy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SportsPro Media</a>, FS1 has been dropped by 668,000 households in the United States since December. This is a 0.9% decrease in their overall reach.



Along with a significant decline of their main sports channel, FS2 is also experienced similar erosion as well. FS2 has seen a drop of 423,000 subscribers during the same timeframe. Combined, FOX has lost over 1 million subscribers of their two sports networks in just a few months.



Ratings on FS1 were <a href="https://barrettsportsmedia.com/2022/09/14/new-fs1-shows-see-ratings-decline-in-first-week/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a> dropping significantly even before the latest numbers were released. In fact, Undisputed&nbsp;with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe saw a 28% decline in viewership during the third quarter of 2022. This is arguably the network’s flagship program. Other sports talk programs on the networks also had declining numbers.



<h5>Traditional TV channels are all seeing decline in viewership</h5>



However, FS1 and FS2 are not the only television channels to experience a decrease in viewership. Most traditional networks are also seeing similar trends. The aforementioned report also claimed that ESPN and ESPN2 lost 926,000 combined subscriptions since December. This was a 1.2% overall loss in viewership. The Tennis Channel and MLB Network experienced comparable losses as well.



Spanish-language channel TUDN, however, lost the most amount of subscribers during this timeframe. The Univision-owned sports network saw a decrease of an astounding 8.93 million subscribers. This was more than a quarter of their entire US household reach.



<h2>Cord-cutting sapping subscribers from FS1 and FS2</h2>



A <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/52-of-us-households-do-not-have-cable-or-satellite-tv-20230214-WST-419783.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report released in February</a> claimed that more than half of all U.S. households now do not have cable or satellite subscriptions. This would certainly help explain the trend of traditional networks going south. Cord-cutting is becoming more and more popular here Stateside. Many households now only have select streaming services rather than a traditional cable or satellite setup.



PHOTO: IMAGO / Icon Sportswire

FOX's sports networks, FS1 and FS2, have lost over 1 million combined subscribers since December as Americans continue to move to streaming.

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Cable subscribers paying fees that Comcast cannot explain

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FS1 and FS2 lose more than 1 million subscribers combined