That's according to the 2007 J.D. Power and Associates Residential Cable/Satellite Satisfaction Study, which was released today.
The company said DIRECTV ranked highest in the East, West and South while WOW!, which offers cable TV service in a handful of states, was rated highest in the North Central region.
J.D. Power said cable and satellite companies were measured on several factors including overall customer satisfaction, performance and reliability; customer service; cost of service; image; billing; and offerings and promotions.
DIRECTV ranked highest in the East with an Index score of 690 out of a possible 1,000. EchoStar's Dish Network was second in the East with 661 while Cox was third with 648.
In the South, DIRECTV finished first with a score of 682. Brighthouse Network was second with 673 and EchoStar was third with a score of 657.
In the West, DIRECTV was tops with a score of 675. Cox was second with 650 and EchoStar was third with 645.
In the North Central region, WOW! was a runaway winner with a score of 729 while DIRECTV was second with 661. EchoStar was again third with 640.
J.D. Power said that customer service is becoming even more important in the TV provider category since the introduction of several new services such as High-Definition and Broadband features.
"The cable/satellite market has shifted to a service model based on the voice, video and data triple play," said Frank Perazzini, J.D. Power's director of telecommunications. "As providers focus on putting this new model into practice, service reliability-which includes
reception clarity and minimizing the number of outages-is critical in maintaining a satisfied customer base."
The J.D. Power study is based on responses from 17,033 U.S. households and was conducted in April 2007.
How did your cable or satellite provider do?
Please click to read J.D. Power's Complete 'Customer Satisfaction' Rankings for each region.
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