Cable's worst? Not!
Consumer Reports ranks other cable providers worse that Comcast in customer satisfaction. But it's a close call.
Can a broken record ever be fixed? Major cable TV systems again ranked among the worst in overall customer satisfaction for TV service in the latest telcom survey released today from Consumer Reports National Research Center.
But take some cheer, Philly boosters. The small Midwest/Southeast operator Mediacom Communications scored the absolute lowest in the ratings in both TV service and bundled packages, "beating" Time Warner Cable in the race to the bottom.
Comcast, TW's former suitor, was, to put it optimistically, one step up (and away) on the badness/goodness scale.
Charter, TW's current merger-maybe, "didn't fare much better," said CR spokesperson James McQueen.
Verizon FiOS and satellite TV companies DirecTV and Dish scored higher in customer satisfaction among TV service providers in categories such as picture quality, channel selection, reliability and ease of use.
No surprise, CR also uncovered "behavioral shifts" in the way consumers are accessing TV. 19 percent of those 45 and younger and 31 percent of survey participants ages 26 to 35 now use a paid video streaming service as their main viewing source. 16 percent of those in the 18-25 range cited free online video as their primary connection for content.
Netflix is far and away the favorite paid service, cited by 81 percent of subscribers, trailed by Amazon Prime (46 percent) and Hulu Plus (11 percent.)