Streamers not quite ready to give up cable TV

As the streaming wars intensify and more service providers enter the fray, streaming remains a complementary service to traditional television, data analytics company J.D. Power found.

The study found that customers were more satisfied with their cable television subscription when subscribed to a streaming service.

“The use of streaming services not only provides a more cost-effective way to watch television, it also provides the ability to stream personalized and live content anytime, anywhere,” said Ian Greenblatt, managing director at J.D. Power. “Customers with highly satisfying streaming experiences will continue to seek increased convenience, personalization and relevant content elsewhere if not delivered by traditional television providers.”

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Moreover, in a study published in January 2021, the data company also found that the average customer spend on streaming services substantially increased over the last year with more households subscribing to four or more providers after the introduction of NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Time Warner’s HBO Max.

However, among 21,555 surveyed customers who have cable and a streaming service, 91% indicate they will not drop their cable subscription within the next 12 months, indicating that cable TV is not completely dead.

Nationally, the J.D. Power study ranks Dish as the top popular cable TV provider when measured for performance and reliability, cost of service, programming, communications and promotions, billing and payment, features and functionality, and customer service. DirecTV and Xfinity ranked second and third.

Dish also ranked highest in the North Central and West, while Verizon ranked highest in the East and AT&T in the West.