October 11, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Cable TV providers plug in to higher prices

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for cable television rose about twice as rapidly as the All Items Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) between 1983 and 1999.

Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) and for cable television, Dec. 1983-Dec. 1999
[Chart data—TXT]

The CPI for cable TV has increased by 6.1 percent per year on average from 1983 to 1999, while the CPI-U grew by 3.2 percent per year. Also during this period, the cable TV CPI advanced by more than the CPI-U in every year except for two (1989 and 1994).

These data are a product of the Consumer Price Index program. Annual changes in this article are December to December. The CPI for cable TV begins in December 1983. Learn more in "Job growth in television: cable versus broadcast," by Dominic Toto, Monthly Labor Review, August 2000.