Dish Network made a huge jump in the latest ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) survey, leapfrogging DIRECTV to take the top spot overall – well sort of. Here is how the latest Dish Network ratings shook out in comparison to DIRECTV and cable providers.
The Dish Network score of 71 in the survey was the top ranking among all cable and satellite TV providers. DIRECTV dropped a few points and came in with a score of 68 compared to a 2009 score of 71. The numbers have Dish Network beating DIRECTV for the first time since 2005, at least according to this customer satisfaction survey.
Dish Network was quick to pound their chest in regard to the good news. In a press release dated May 18th, Dish claimed to be number 1 in customer satisfaction among satellite and cable companies. While that statement was technically true, two other companies actually beat Dish Network according to the ACSI survey – AT&T and Verizon.
The key to Dish Network’s claim comes into play with the phrase “satellite and cable companies.” While all companies considered to be cable and satellite TV including Comcast, Cox cable, Charter, and Time Warner along with DIRECTV fell behind Dish, the other two are consider Telco TV companies. AT&T Uverse came in with a score of 72, while Verizon FiOS was the actual winner of this year’s survey with a score of 73.
With 5 million video customers between them, AT&T and Verizon are certainly viable players in the pay television market. Those numbers will only increase over the next five years as each company continues to build out their TV network. Still the latest Dish Network ratings show a strong turnaround for the company that was lagging badly behind the competition just a year ago.
According to the surveys comments, one reason Dish Network enjoyed higher satisfaction ratings was due to a more aggressive pricing strategy. While DIRECTV raised prices across the board on all packages earlier this year, Dish Network held the line on package prices. Instead, some Dish Network customers who had multiple DVRs including HD DVR models saw price hikes in this area. Overall, fewer Dish customers felt the pain this year when it came to price increases.
Dish Network ratings were also higher than the top cable TV companies, though cable operators did improve over their 2009 performance. Cox cable was the leader among cable operators once again with a score of 67, while the largest cable companies Time Warner and Comcast each scored an ACSI score of 61 which was a 3% gain over last year.
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