Customer satisfaction among subscribers to cable and satellite television improved three percent to a score of 64 in the first quarter of 2008, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

 

But, at the same time, Comcast (News - Alert), Charter, and Dish Network are losing ground in the satisfaction of their customers. Comcast is down four percent to 54, an all-time low for the largest cable provider in the country.

 

Rapid growth may have contributed to difficulties in operations as Comcast continues to add cable subscribers, often through acquisitions of companies in smaller markets, says  Professor Claes Fornell, director of the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan.

 

Satellite TV provider Dish Network is down three percent to 65 and Charter is down two percent to 54, sharing the lowest score in the industry with Comcast.

 

The reason for the industry's overall uptick is the large improvement among smaller cable TV providers such as Cablevision and RCN (News - Alert), Fornell says.

 

The category of "all other" cable TV companies is up five percent to lead the industry with an all-time high of 69, well ahead of the large competitors.

 

As is often the case, small is often better in terms of being able to provide good customer service. Cablevision, for example, with some three million subscribers, is barely an eighth the size of Comcast, Fornell notes.

 

Also, after several years of very little movement, the ACSI score for fixed line telephone service rose four percent to 73, the best since 1999.

 

AT&T (News - Alert) made a seven percent leap to 75, taking the top spot in the fixed line telephone category, while Cox Communications and Embarq each have gains of six percent.

 

Cox moved to a score of 74 and the number two spot in the industry, while Embarq escaped from the industry basement to catch Verizon (News - Alert), the only company to suffer a loss in customer satisfaction (down three percent to 70).

 

Comcast also enjoyed a three percent increase to 69 in the fixed-line communications category, but with competitors making larger gains, it dropped to the bottom of the industry.

 

AT&T has probably benefited from the influx of customers from Bell South, which merged with AT&T in 2006, adding more than 20 million to AT&T's customer portfolio, Fornell says.

 

Bell South had strong customer satisfaction and, with the exception of 2005-2007, AT&T has had a history of customer satisfaction leadership as well.

 

Customer satisfaction with wireless telephone service remains at an all-time high for the second consecutive year at 68, but two of the industry giants are heading in opposite directions.

 

AT&T Mobility gained four percent to a score of 71, while Sprint (News - Alert) Nextel plummeted eight percent to 56, its worst performance to date and well behind all other competitors.