Continuing cable price increases--for whatever reason--are fraying the nerves of those who have to pay them, according to the latest statistics released by J.D. Power and Associates' U.S. Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study.
Overall customer satisfaction with television costs average 541 on a 1,000 point scale, the survey said. That's down 14 points year-over-year with the biggest declines coming from traditional cable MSO subscribers whose results were 22 percent lower than those using services from telco players AT&T U-Verse (NYSE: T) and Verizon FiOS (NYSE: VZ) and 18 percent lower than DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) and Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH), the survey said, although results were gleaned before Dish's most recent brouhaha with Fox Networks.
"TV providers must better communicate their price-value proposition, as customers are increasingly voicing irritation with the amount of their monthly bill," said Frank Perazzini, J.D. Power's telecommunications director in a news release.
Remarkably despite what the company called a "considerable decline in satisfaction with the cost of service" overall satisfaction with service declined only slightly year-over-year. Best rated services providers are AT&T U-Verse in the West, South and North Central regions and Verizon FiOS in the East.
For more:
- see this news release
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