Despite an uncertain future and rampant cord cutting, AT&T U-verse is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, at least in terms of customer satisfaction.
According to the newest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) telecommunications study, overall customer satisfaction with traditional subscription pay TV services rose again to 65 (out of 100). After rising to a score of 70 in last year’s study, U-verse climbed another 6% to 74 this year, staying ahead of Verizon Fios at 71.
At the same time, DirecTV tied with Dish Network and Comcast Xfinity at 66 and AT&T TV Now held steady at 72.
The relatively positive customer satisfaction scores for all three services come as AT&T is in the middle of spinning off its trio of linear TV services in a deal with TPG Capital that will form a new company called DirecTV, in which AT&T will hold a 70% stake.
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At the lower end of the ACSI score spectrum for pay TV providers this year was Charter, up 5% to 64, and Frontier, up 9% to 63. They’re followed by Cox at 62, Optimum at 60, Mediacom at 59 and Suddenlink at 56.
Disney+ still leads the pack among subscription video streaming services despite its ASCI score slipping 3% to 78. It’s followed by Amazon’s Twitch, up 1% to 76, and Netflix, down 4% to 75, which ties it with Hulu, HBO, HBO Max and YouTube TV. ASCI said streaming video took the biggest overall hit year over year in terms of customer satisfaction.
“With folks resigned to stay at home for the better part of a year and a half, the heavy strain on telecommunications was inevitable,” said David VanAmburg, managing director at the ACSI, in a statement. “The large consumption of bandwidth for internet services and countless hours spent streaming videos and movies were sure to impact satisfaction. And it turns out that streaming has taken the biggest hit of all.”
ACSI said its 2020-2021 telecommunications study is based on interviews with 37,907 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between April 1, 2020, and March 29, 2021.