DirecTV Bemoans Rising Program Costs

Big increases in pay-TV prices are set to be the "new norm," DirecTV's Chief Financial Officer Patrick Doyle told investors, as pay-TV providers look to recover more of the cost of rising programming fees.

"It behooves the industry to try to match up a little better with [programming] cost increases," Doyle told the Deutsche Bank investor conference. DirecTV, the second-largest pay-TV provider in the U.S., said last month it expects programming costs per subscriber to increase 8% in 2013. The satellite operator raised prices it charged consumers 4.5% at the start of this year. Doyle's comments suggest that pay-TV providers are ratcheting up pressure on entertainment companies over the rising cost of programming, a source of increasing tension. Several pay-TV providers have noted lately that they have been absorbing some of the programming cost increases by not passing on the full amount in higher retail prices.