Research
The good news for cable, according to CFI Group‘s ’08 Telecom-Cable Industry Satisfaction Study: The avg US HH spends up to $200/month on comm, Internet and TV services; and 60% of HHs now have bundled services, with cable owning twice as many bundled subs than do telcos. In leading the category, Comcast services 24% of bundled homes, Time Warner Cable 16% and AT&T 15%. The bad news? Customers prefer to bundle services with telcos over cable ops by a 2-1 margin, citing "better customer service" and "better value for the features" as primary reasons. Cable scored an "abysmal" 60 in CFI’s Customer Service Index, well behind satellite (67) and telcos (66). Some individual MSO scores: Cox (66), Time Warner (60), Comcast (58) and Charter (51). Cable modem satisfaction averaged a 65. CFI said 13-17% of cable/satellite subs are likely to defect, citing too high rates, poor customer service and residence changes.