There may be places that have only one provider with only one option in that provider, but are those places really $135/month with all the TV channels? The issue might be paying for things that are already free over the Internet.
> There may be places that have only one provider with only one option in that provider, but are those places really $135/month with all the TV channels?
Yes, I've lived in places where there is one cable company and they abuse their monopoly position with predatory pricing like this. When you're a new customer, they offer you a deal at maybe ~$60/mo and then over the course of a couple years raise the price to over $120/mo, with price increases every year or two after that, as well.
In the U.S. the vast majority of places have only only provider, there is no shopping around. $135/month sounds about right for the complete package. If you're lucky that includes a "special" on including HBO.
Virtually all places have "specials" on the first year of service, wherein the price will increase 50% or even 100% after the first year, which will almost always put you well into the $100+ range.
I understand. For myself, I chose to solve that by not purchasing any TV, cable phone, or any other package and only getting Internet. Internet is the only useful thing for me from all of that, anyway.
If the prices get too high I call them up and cancel. At that time, they try to keep me as a subscriber by giving me lower rates. If they don't have any available I ask when their new packages are coming out and call back a day after that time.
Comcast hides their real rates as well as they can but in some places they are required to publish them. In my rural area (where they are the only real option):
$139.99 gets you "Select+ Includes Limited Basic, Expanded Basic, Digital Preferred Tier and HD
programming for primary outlet, 20 Hour DVR Service, and Blast! Internet"
You can't buy ALL the channels as s bundle but the top tier bundle is $189.99/mo (plus fees)
The prices don't sum reasonably at all and it's not really feasible to calculate a price for TV without internet (and its very difficult to order such a thing)
i.e., if you're lucky enough to have more than one alternative (if any).