In the first quarter of 2017, Verizon’s Fios TV platform peaked at more than 4.68 million subscribers, defying a nascent but quickening “cord-cutting” trend among American traditional pay TV consumers with an exceptionally sticky user interface.
The days of traditional cable TV subscriber growth are over now, but Fios TV has still sort of got it. According to J.D. Power’s “2025 U.S. Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study,” Verizon Fios TV scored the highest among surveyed consumers for user satisfaction on a 1,000-point scale, ranking higher than the rest of the cable and satellite-delivered TV competition across seven dimensions: “value for price paid; consistently delivering high-quality service; level of trust with provider; ease of doing business; people; digital tools; and resolving problems or complaints.
Verizon also ranked atop J.D. Power’s assessment of wireless network performance satisfaction back in July, beating out wireless competitors AT&T and T-Mobile. But we’re a little surprised by the live-TV piece, given the level of marginalization pay TV seems to have in Verizon’s business portfolio. Notably, Charter Communications has focused attention quite a bit recently on Spectrum TV, restoring video to its primary marketing bundle. But Spectrum TV finished a distant second in the ranker.
Troy, Mich.-based J.D. Power separately ranked virtual pay TV operators (or virtual MVPDs), placing market leader YouTube TV ahead of Sling TV, Hulu+ Live TV, Fubo and DirecTV Stream. J.D. Power notes that while vMPVDs generally have higher overall customer satisfaction scores, they’re experiencing higher subscriber churn.
“Cable TV providers have longer-standing customer relationships and more tenure than live TV streaming services,” said Carl Lepper, senior director of technology, media and telecom intelligence at J.D. Power, in a statement. “Many customers choose cable because of bundled TV and internet offerings, an option that streaming providers typically don’t offer. In areas with limited internet provider availability, bundling becomes even more common. While live streaming services may offer greater flexibility and higher satisfaction, they also face higher turnover.”