Customers in the U.S. are paying higher prices than they did a year ago for TV and streaming bundles, according to a new report from J.D. Power. They’re also paying a little more for wired internet, whether or not they choose to bundle with other services, but are paying a little less for fixed wireless internet compared to a few months ago.
The average monthly price for a cable or satellite television bundle was $187.99 through January 2025, according to the report.
For wired internet alone, the average price was $83.35 per month through February 2025.
Wired internet bundles, meanwhile, cost an average of $170.06 per month through February 2025. Compared to a year ago, this price was up by nearly $8 per month, the biggest reported increase overall.
The only decrease in prices in the report was for unbundled wireless internet, which cost an average of $71.53 per month in February 2025. That was down from $73.64 per month in November 2024 but up from $71.45 per month in February 2025.
The figures show not only price increases across the board relative to 2024, but also seasonal changes in pricing.
The report said prices for TV bundles, cable and satellite TV subscriptions, and live TV streaming were lowest in the latter half of the year and higher in January and February. This may reflect seasonal subscriber slumps that occur because fewer people move during winter months, and that means they’re less likely to switch providers.
The price changes may also go hand in hand with holiday deals, which national providers commonly offer on and around Black Friday each year.
Monthly prices for internet service also showed seasonal variation, and that was true whether for both wired and wireless internet, bundled or otherwise.
Like with TV pricing, this variability may be part of typical seasonal variation. However, it may also be an effect of promotional pricing, where internet providers increase prices for individual customers after the first few months of service.
That practice may be on its way out, with providers like Xfinity, Verizon, Spectrum, and T-Mobile offering multi-year price locks to new customers. However, smaller providers still offer aggressive promotional pricing, and even the biggest providers don’t offer price locks across the board. Furthermore, they don’t include taxes, regulatory fees, and equipment costs in their guarantees.
The J.D. Power report was part of the firm’s ongoing study of cable television, streaming, internet, and wireless service providers and prices. It relied on customer-reported price information and mean pricing.
Other firms that study this issue, particularly doxoINSIGHTS, use actual payment data and calculate based on median pricing instead. That may explain why J.D. Power’s estimates for bundled TV services came in nearly $67 higher per month than the doxoINSIGHTS figures.
Each study methodology has its flaws, and that makes it difficult for TV and internet providers of all sizes to determine how much they should charge.
