By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman

The battle has begun and let’s take a look at the boys in the ring. We have Dish who has had more carriage blackouts than any other cable or satellite provider and now is engaged in four different fee fights with 77 network affiliates missing. But across the corner there’s DIRECTV, its longtime satellite rival, who has had occasional carriage fights, including one recent one with Nexstar and two current ones with Mission Broadcasting and White Knight. DIRECTV has also lost 13 million subscribers in the last eight years while Dish has lost about half that. So, based on their recent records, which satellite provider would win the prestigious J.D. Power annual cable/satellite ‘customer satisfaction’ award? Answer: Dish!

Yes, J.D. Power, which interviewed 23,584 customers in all pay TV categories, and regions of the country, says Dish’s customers gave it the best rating in the cable/satellite category with a total score of 709. (Despite the frequent channel blackouts.) DIRECTV was second with a score of 705 so the two satcasters performed better than all of their cable counterparts. Dish was quick to issue a statement noting that it has now won the award in the cable/satellite category six straight years.

YouTube TV ranked highest in the live TV streaming segment with a score of 795 with Hulu Live second with a score of 785.

Although consumer survey results can be suspect for a variety of reasons, J.D. Power says its sampling of America’s TV viewers found that the likelihood of live TV streaming customers switching services in the next year is just 12 percent compared to the likelihood of cable and satellite customers switching (21 percent). The company says the obvious reason is the cost of each with most cable and satellite monthly bills near $100 while live streaming subscriptions are usually in the $60-75 a month range.

You can learn more about the J.D. Power study here. And if you’re wondering how Dish manages to win the customer satisfaction award while losing so many channels in fee fights, click here.

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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman