Cable rates will be raised historically as people cut the cord And now Comcast has announced that it will raise cable rates again later this year What's different this time around? This Internet cable TV company has already suggested that the second half of the cable TV business is not long for us anymore

News of the price increase broke around Comcast's Q4 2019 earnings report, with The Verge citing a rate "adjustment" scheduled for 2020 After the report, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told CNBC that the company plans to "pivot to a broadband-centric cable company," indicating that the company is aware of the public perception that cable TV is the past and not the future This is a polite way of saying that the company is aware of the public's perception that cable TV is the past, not the future

Comcast is already working on this post-cable future, and its entertainment division, NBCUniversal, has announced Peacock, an online-only streaming service coming in April, Peacock will offer the same NBC and other channels premium content, and is intended to get people to once again embrace ad-driven content by only running five minutes of commercials per hour

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Peacock also has two premium tiers: a $5/month plan that unlocks all shows and episodes and a $10/month plan that removes advertising Existing Cox and Comcast cable and Internet subscribers get the $5 Peacock Premium for free

This also coincides with Comcast's recently announced "Flex" streaming box Available to Internet-only subscribers, Flex allows customers to purchase and rent movies and shows through Comcast, as well as access streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video The box can also be used to rent TV shows and movies directly from Comcast

Why Leave Cable? The division's fourth-quarter revenue was $148 billion, slightly above analyst estimates of $1475 billion