3 Things to Know About the FCC’s All-In Pricing Rule

The All-In Pricing Rule also requires cable and satellite providers to tell consumers about any promotional discounts that apply to a video service. Monthly bills will also need to notify customers of the expiration date of the promo discount 60 and 30 days before it ends, and what that post-promotion “all-in” rate is going to be.

3. THE RULE DOESN’T APPLY TO ALL CHARGES

Providers can still exclude various line items and refer to them elsewhere in ads or bills. These include:

• Taxes

• Administrative fees

• Equipment fees

• Streaming fees

• Other charges unrelated to video programming

Related Resource: Bill Explainer Datasheet

THE BOTTOM LINE: BILLING TRANSPARENCY IS PARAMOUNT

If nothing else, the FCC’s action against “junk fees” draws more attention to providers and whether they’re sending out clear, easy-to-understand statements. It shouldn’t take regulatory activity for cable providers to prioritize the billing experience, however. Easy billing journeys should be incentive enough as they reinforce customer loyalty, and confusing bills draw costly calls to the contact center. We’ve found that billing-related calls account for up to 50% of contact center volume .

Related eBook: 5 Billing Statement Sins that Could Be Damaging Your Customer Experience

Here’s how cable providers, with CSG’s help, can give their subscribers clear billing experiences that build trust.

AUDIT THE BILL DESIGN FOR CLARITY

Cable providers would be surprised to know how many ways they can make their monthly printed bill more customer friendly. We conducted a consumer study to identify what information subscribers want from their bills and where they look for it. That research is in this eBook , which cable providers can use to guide a bill redesign.

PROVIDE AI-POWERED BILL EXPLANATIONS

Using generative AI, cable providers can give each subscriber a personalized breakdown of their monthly bill. The AI draws from individualized billing data to create a microsite for each customer, which explains to them in plain language the key facets of their statement:

• Changes from the previous bill (and why the amount changed)

• Balance due

• Payment terms

• Usage fees and additional charges

• Taxes and other balances

It’s a fantastic tool for billing transparency, and it’s easy for providers to implement. See how CSG Bill Explainer works here .

USE INTUITIVE BILL DESIGN TOOLS

To create billing statements that are easy to understand, it helps to have bill design tools that are easy to use . Cable providers should have a composition solution that has pre-built templates and intuitive interfaces for formatting, organizing and summarizing the bill content.