TV and internet affiliate site CableTV.com recently released the results of its annual customer satisfaction survey on top U.S. cable TV providers. So, if you’ve been thinking of switching cable TV providers for quite some time now, then CableTV.com’s 2022 report can help you determine which is the best cable TV provider for you. So which is the best cable TV provider?
For this year, CableTV.com asked over 6,000 customers of 11 top cable TV providers 19 questions in three categories: overall customer satisfaction, features and functionality, and pricing and subscriptions. And the resulting pile of data revealed DirecTV Stream (formerly AT&T TV) as the clear winner.
Below are some of the survey’s top findings: On the question of how effective cable TV providers are at meeting their customers’ needs, DirecTV Stream rated highest with 67%, followed by a three-way tie between Verizon Fios, Dish, and DirecTV, with 64% each. Meanwhile, Dish (66%) rated highest for making issue resolution easy on customers, followed by DirecTV Stream (63%), Verizon Fios (62%), and DirecTV (60%).
Interestingly, even though it only has 140+ channels, customers were most satisfied with the channel selection of DirecTV Stream, with 63% of customers completely or very satisfied with the streaming service. This, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that quality outshines quantity, as cable and satellite providers scored almost as high as DirecTV Stream. For instance, Xfinity, which carries 260+ channels rated 62%. Verizon Fios — a streaming service like DirecTV Stream — rated 61% with its huge 486+ channel lineup.
While Verizon Fios ranked highest in customer satisfaction for streaming quality at 66%, DirecTV Stream came in second at 64%. Both are actually streaming TV services, so it’s not surprising that they had topped this category.
Though TV streaming services like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV have far better deals than DirecTV Stream, an incredible 65% of DirecTV Stream customers plan to stick with the provider. DirecTV has no contracts, so it’s probably one of the reasons why its customers remain loyal to the service. Also, as seen in the graph below, Xfinity (64%) and Verizon Fios (63%) customers also put their chances of staying put with their current providers fairly high.
Surprisingly, even though DirecTV Stream’s prices are already high, its customers (48%) are still likely to increase the amount they purchase from the service. In this specific category, Verizon Fios and Cox (32%) are tied for second place, with Xfinity (30%) coming in third.
Though CableTV.com maintains that DirecTV Stream is of poor value, the website acknowledges that DirecTV Stream is the highest-rated cable TV provider in all three sections of this year’s customer satisfaction survey. The survey’s results seem to indicate that if customers are happy with the service, it doesn’t matter much whether they’re actually paying more for its actual value.
Read the full report here.