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Watching games on ESPN, WWE Raw wrestling bouts on USA Network or rich-kid antics on MTV’s The Hills is about to cost more as Time Warner Cable raises rates for some Rochester-area subscribers but lowers them for others.

The new prices will take effect with February’s bills. What customers pay varies because Time Warner has separate pricing for different geographical areas.

But standard cable service — featuring channels such as ESPN, Comedy Central, the Weather Channel and Sci Fi Channel — will go up by $4 to $5.50 a month in most cases, which will raise their cost to a range of $48 to $57.50.

Basic cable packages, which include channels 2 through 19, will either stay the same or drop $1.50 a month. Basic cable now costs $9.50 to $13.50.

Premium add-ons such as HBO, Showtime and the digital sports tier are increasing by $1 to $1.30 each per month.

Telephone and Internet service prices aren’t changing, said Time Warner spokeswoman Robin Wolfgang.

Viacom and Time Warner last week agreed to higher prices for Viacom programming. Wolfgang said Time Warner’s rate increase isn’t directly related to Viacom but comes as cable companies generally pay more for programming. She said Time Warner’s programming costs are up by 10 percent in 2009.

The company’s operating costs also have risen, Wolfgang said.

MDANEMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com