• by Wayne Friedman , March 14, 2012

When it comes to customer experience, TV and Internet providers and services rate almost last across some 18 industries -- only health-care companies generally rate lower.

A study from the Temkin Group of more than 200 companies -- and some 10,000 U.S. consumers -- rated 11 Internet companies and 10 TV companies. Only three of those 21 companies got "OK" approval -- Bright House Networks (a cable TV provider), Dish Network (a satellite TV provider) and Cablevision Systems (for its Internet service).

Fifteen of the companies were rated "poor." This list includes AOL, AT&T (TV), Cablevision (TV), Comcast (TV), Comcast (Internet), Cox Communications, MSN, Qwest, Road Runner, Verizon, AT&T (Internet), DirecTV, Optimum (iO)/Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and Verizon (TV).

Three received "very poor" ratings: Charter Communications (TV), Charter Communications (Internet), and EarthLink (Internet). Of all 206 companies in the survey, EarthLink and Charter Communications were the two lowest-rated companies.

The survey says the consumer experience gained slight improvement in 2011 over 2010 for TV services but had a slight decline with Internet service providers. Companies on the upswing were: Cablevision (Internet), Comcast (Internet), AOL (Internet), Dish Network (TV), Bright House Networks (TV), DirecTV (TV), and Comcast (TV).

Overall, "terrible customer experience remains an epidemic within the Internet services and TV services industries," stated Bruce Temkin, author of the report and Managing Partner of Temkin Group.