As Comcast and Time Warner Cable wade through the regulatory waters on their way to a merger, a new customer satisfaction survey shows the two companies have the most dissatisfied customers among subscription TV and ISP services. The American Customer Satisfaction Index found Comcast customers give it a 60 out of 100, down -5% from last year, while Time Warner Cable is even worse: sitting at 56, its lowest score to date, and down -7%.
“It’s a concern whenever two poor-performing service providers combine operations,” says David VanAmburg, ACSI Director. “ACSI data consistently show that mergers in service industries usually result in lower customer satisfaction, at least in the short term. It’s hard to see how combining two negatives will be a positive for consumers.”
AT&T and DirecTV both sit at 69 on the index. On Sunday, AT&T announced it is acquiring DirecTV. Among others: Verizon FiOS is at 68 and DISH Network is at 67. DISH may be the lowest-scoring satellite TV company, but it is better than the top-scoring cable company: Cox Communications which is at 63, down -3% from last year.