Mediacom

Right now I live in apartment. I have Mediacom cable and Internet. I do not have a home phone nor do I need one. My bill this month was $159.78. I think this is absolutely ridiculous!
Here is the breakdown:

• Family Cable $58.95

1. Basic $23.95
2. Expanded $35.00

• DVR Service $9.95
• DVR Receiver $6.00
• Mediamax 2Star $59.00

1. Showtime
2. Starz
3. Internet Access
4. Modem

• Digital Plus $10.00
• Digital Sports Tier $3.95

Total for Service: $147.85

• Franchise fee $5.36
• Regulatory fee $0.07
• Sales tax $6.50

Total for Fees, & Taxes: $11.93

So I called about trying to get the rate lowered. Basically my option is to drop a service. Naturally I would prefer to drop the channels I watch the least - Basic cable. Sorry can't do that because it is required to have the rest of the channels. I've tried to drop Showtime & Starz several times but have been told my Internet will still be around $50. Since the Internet is pretty much a necessity these days I cannot drop it. Also the DVR has been a godsend; it's not going anywhere.
Basically my options came down to dropping the Digital Plus service and the Digital Sports Tier. The first contains many channels I watch regularly including Fox Soccer, BBC America, G4, and (ahem) Nicktoons (What? The new Wolverine & Iron Man cartoons are on there!). My wife also frequently DVRs shows in this range. The second package consists of several college sports channels and a second soccer channel, Gol TV. With regular airings of the German & Spanish soccer leagues, I would hate to lose Gol. In addition the Sports Tier features all of my college hockey and lacrosse games.
Still, $160.00 for cable is freaking nuts. Our phones barely cost that with four lines, texting, and a bajillion minutes (we split that bill with with mother-in-law & brother-in-law). Our electric -even during the peak summer months - is still less than 2/3 of that.
On my third call in less than a month, I finally got a rep that gave a damn. She offered to drop my Showtime & Starz and replace it with Internet service on a one year promotion for $19.95. I also ended up dropping the Sports Tier college lax season in Omaha; trying to find time to watch DVRed games was a difficult task last year. My new bill will be around $115 per month. Still not great, but a hell of a lot better...