Increasing consumer adoption and use of DVR equipment and additional video applications is fueling growth for residential television service revenues, according to J.D. Power and Associates 2011 “Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study.”
Cable service TV customers’ DVR subscriptions have increased to 45% in 2011 from 38% in 2010, according to the report. Thirty-five percent of cable homes have more than one DVR this year compared with 28% last year.
Sixty-four percent of U.S. residential TV customers with satellite TV subscriptions have DVRs as compared to 59% in 2010. Forty-five percent of DBS homes have multiple DVRs as compared to 40% in 2010.
“As prices continue to fall, penetration of HDTVs in homes has increased by 8 percentage points during the past year,” said Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates.
“Increased integration of HDTVs with multi-room DVR setups has been key to driving additional revenue for service providers. In fact, average monthly billing for triple-play customers, those subscribing to telephone, television and Internet service, climbed to $149.52 in 2011 from $140.90 in 2010.”
Video-on-Demand (VoD) services has also been a “bright spot” for TV service providers in 2011, according to J.D. Power’s research. VoD viewership increased to 39% from 35% in 2010 among cable subscribers and to 18% from 16% among satellite subscribers.
“Regular VOD viewing improves loyalty,” said Perazzini. “Thirty-nine percent of viewers who watch 10 or more hours of VOD per month consider themselves loyal to their provider, while the average among non-VOD users is 31 percent.”
The report also includes research results from a study measuring customer satisfaction with cable, satellite and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) service providers across six factors: programming; performance and reliability; customer service; cost of service; billing; and offerings and promotions.
AT&T U-verse ranked highest in the West for the fourth consecutive year with an index score of 686 on a 1,000-point scale, as well as in the South, with an index score of 687. AT&T U-verse also ranked highest in the North Central region for the second consecutive year with a score of 699.
DirecTV ranked highest in the East region with a score of 686.
J.D. Power market researchers also found that speculation regarding an imminent demise of premium cable channels such as HBO and Showtime “may be premature.” Though premium channel penetration among satellite service TV customers fell to 29% from 34% in 2010, penetration in cable service TV customers rose slightly, to 30% this year from 29% in 2010.
