WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Residential television service customers are notably less satisfied with the cost of service, compared with 2009, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 U.S. Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.

Customer satisfaction with the cost of television service averages 541 on a 1,000-point scale in 2010, down 14 points from 555 in 2009. Customers of traditional cable providers are particularly dissatisfied with their cost of service. Satisfaction with fairness of prices paid among cable customers is 22 percent lower than among customers of telephone company providers (such as AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)) and 18 percent lower than among customers of satellite providers (such as DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV)and Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH)).

"Despite this decline in satisfaction with cost of service, DVR adoption rates and video-on-demand access have experienced healthy gains," said Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates. "It's apparent, however, that TV providers must better communicate their price-value proposition, as customers are increasingly voicing irritation with the amount of their monthly bill. Seventy-four percent of customers who say they definitely or probably will change TV providers in the next year cite price as a major reason to switch."

J.D. Power and Associates