Increased charges for programming are translating to higher bills for subscribers to television services.

And customers in the Lawrence area are being asked to help decide what is worth paying extra for.

Sunflower Broadband, which provides cable service in Lawrence and several nearby communities,increased its expanded basic service last month by $2 per month, to $41.95. Sunflower attributed $1.66 of that increase – or 83 percent – to the higher cost the company is paying for programming.

Now, the NFL Network wants another $1 per subscriber, per month, if Sunflower wants to carry eight regular-season games this fall on expanded basic service.

“We’re doing a survey and getting feedback from our customers right now to see whether they think there’s value in that,” said Patrick Knorr, general manager for Sunflower, which is owned by The World Company, which also owns the Journal-World. “We think that’s very expensive for eight games. Ultimately, that adds up to more than $300,000 a year from our subscribers. That’s an awful lot of money.”

But don’t panic, Chiefs fans: “Regardless of our customers’ desires about adding games from the NFL Network, we expect that any Chiefs games on the network also will be carried locally,” Knorr said.

Fox News Channel is seeking $1 per month per subscriber for its programming, which has more viewers than any other cable news channel, according to the Wall Street Journal. Fox News also is using its negotiations to secure subscribers for Fox Business, which would compete with CNBC; providers would get a 3 cents-per-subscriber discount for showing the new channel.

Analysts told the Journal that while Fox is in a strong negotiating position, given its particular popularity among conservative Republicans, its demands may be excessive.

Sunflower’s contract with Fox – which already includes modest annual increases – doesn’t expire for another couple of years. The increase that many other providers are facing is well in excess of 200 percent, Knorr said, and that question won’t be posed to Sunflower customers for at least another year.

Either way, rising programming prices are not going away. Even broadcast networks – such as ABC, CBS, NBC – are starting to ask for money from providers.

“When we are faced with that increase, we’ll ask our customers to see if that is valuable enough for them,” said Knorr, who is vice chairman of the American Cable Assn., a not-for-profit trade group based in Pittsburgh. “All our channels are going up, and that means rates will go up every year, but Sunflower will work hard to make sure that our customers have as much say as possible in the value that they get.”

Rising rates

Sunflower Broadband increased its rates for expanded basic cable television service by $2, effective March 1. Here are the shares of that $2 that Sunflower attributes to compensation for specific providers of programming:

¢ 66 cents for ABC (Disney, ESPN channels, ABC Family)

¢ 21 cents for Fox (Fox News, Fox Sports)

¢ 20 cents for NBC (Sci-Fi Channel, USA Network)

¢ 14 cents for Time Warner (CNN, TNT)

¢ 13 cents for CBS (MTV, Nickelodeon)

¢ 13 cents for others (HGTV, E!)

¢ 6 cents for Discovery (Animal Planet, TLC)

¢ 5 cents for A&E (A&E, History Channel)

¢ 5 cents for Kansas University basketball replays

¢ 3 cents for Royals Sports Television Network