• by Wayne Friedman , August 17, 2006

Although digital cable services have gained consumers, satellite video providers generally get the best marks when it comes to customer service. The big winner in a national survey was Wide Open West.

J.D. Power & Associates' annual customer-satisfaction survey showed that DirecTV and EchoStar Communications ranked either first, second or third among all satellite and cable providers in all regions of the country.

Still, individual cable companies received high marks in specific regions. Cox Communications ranked first in the West and second-best in the East. Cable over-builder Wide Open West had the best numbers in the North Central region--and the best numbers of any satellite or cable provider in any region: 708, out of a possible 1,000. Cable over-builders build systems and sell services in areas where cable companies are already established.

Southern cable operator Bright House Network led the customer-satisfaction survey in the South region, scoring 682 points.

The two biggest cable operators--Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable--got middle-to-below-average marks in most regions. Time Warner was fourth-best in the North Central region and the East, fifth-best in the West, and third in the South. Comcast was sixth-best in the North Central and in the East, fourth in the West, and a lowly eighth-best in the South.

Adelphia Communications--the financially troubled cable operator that was recently absorbed by Time Warner Cable and Comcast--ranked at the bottom of the survey in the East, North Central and West regions.

Cable did get some good news in digital-cable penetration--which is now at 41 percent of its consumers versus 31 percent over a year ago, the survey said. Also a plus for cable: cable subscribers' average monthly bills dropped $1 to $58, while satellite subscribers reported spending $61 monthly--up $3 from 2005.

Digital-video-recorder penetration is also on the rise with cable versus satellite. J.D. Power reports that 38 percent of cable subscribers have DVRs, compared with 25 percent of satellite customers.