The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index is out, and once again MVPDs are crowding the list of most-disliked companies. Four cable companies and one satellite company rank among the 15 most disliked companies in America.
Cable companies for some time were franchised local monopolies, and even when satellite gained strength the inconvenience of switching from one to another made it a less-than-desirable option for disgruntled customers. It turns out that these are the conditions that help breed consumer dissatisfaction.
ACSI’s David VanAmburg explained, “Where companies have little or no competition or where customers encounter barriers to switching among competitors in terms of cost and/or convenience, companies may not need to satisfy their customers to the same degree in order to keep them.”
Most of the complaints about MVPDs centered on poor service, billing issues and rapid rate hikes.
Here, then, is the top 15 most disliked companies:
#1 Long Island Power Authority
#2 Northeast Utilities
#3 Charter Communications
#4 Comcast (Television service)
#5 United Airlines
#6 Time Warner
#7 Cox Communications (Television Service)
#8 American Airlines
#9 US Airways
#10 Delta
#11 CenturyLink
#12 Facebook
#13 Aetna
#14 DirectTV
#15 Bank of America
RBR-TVBR observation: The next time a cable company pushes your television station to the brink in a retransmission negotiation, you will likely find a sympathetic audience in the audience you share with the cable company. Viewers and local broadcasters alike have no choice but to deal with the cable company, like it or not. If it was us, we would patiently and honestly describe what your station is seeking and why, and discuss the MVPD’s reason for fighting it. They will probably be on your side.
