According to the Yankee Group's report, "TAF (Technologically Advanced Family) Survey Findings Highlight the Consumer Market's Competitive Challenges," cable operators trail satellite providers by a significant margin in terms of customer satisfaction. Despite the deployment of digital cable and services such as VOD and HDTV, 87 percent of U.S. satellite subscribers are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied overall, compared with 68 percent of cable subscribers. The survey found that 90 percent of consumers are now aware of digital cable.
Major phone companies' offering comparable "Triple Play" service bundles of voice, video and data services to compete with cable also is of concern to cable companies. Thirty percent of homes interested in a single service provider would choose their telco, while only eight percent would choose their cable operator for their bundle. The report describes how the impending competition for integrated video and voice and data service bundles will require that cable operators leverage these relationships, driving take-up rates of IP telephony services prior to telcos achieving parity with video offerings.
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