JD Power: Canadians Like Multiscreen, PVR

According to J.D. Power, the growth of TV/video accessibility and PVR use marks a change in household consumption behaviors and greater satisfaction among Canadians. Satisfaction among TV customers in Canada is 685 (on a 1,000-point scale), increasing from 675 in 2013, while satisfaction among Internet customers is 672, an improvement from 668 in 2013.

Among the findings:

• In 2014, 45% of TV service customers in Canada watch TV programming on additional devices, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, compared with 42% in 2013.
• Providing access to content on customers' preferred devices translates into higher satisfaction with cost of service, which is 30 points higher among those watching TV programming on alternative devices than among those watching on TVs.
• Satisfaction is higher across all factors among TV customers with PVRs enabling multi-room viewing than among those without similar PVRs. Satisfaction among those using multi-room PVRs is 16 points higher than among those using single-room PVRs (714 vs. 698, respectively), reinforcing the perceived value that customers associate with access to content anytime, anywhere.
• PVR customers spend on average $15 more per month on their TV bill than those who do not have a PVR.
• Satisfaction impacts the rate of recommendations. Customers with a multi-room PVR are 5 percentage points more likely to say they "definitely will" recommend their TV service provider than are those with a single-room PVR unit (24% vs. 19%, respectively).
• Among the 38% of customers in Canada who have a PVR, 25% have a multi-room unit, an increase from 21% in 2013. In comparison, among the 46% of customers in the United States who have a PVR, 38% have a multi-room PVR.
• When comparing viewing methods, U.S. customers more often view video content on tablets than do Canadian customers (21% vs. 16%, respectively), while viewing on laptops and desktops is more common in Canada than in the United States (35% vs. 31%, respectively).
• 51% of TV customers contact their service provider for customer service, compared with 36% of Internet customers. Among TV customers who contact customer service, 33% are unable to resolve their issue on the first call, compared with 36% among ISP customers.
• The most common reasons for TV customer service contacts are to report an outage (15%); equipment issues (15%); and poor/bad reception (11%). The most common reasons for ISP customer service contacts are problems/issues with cable modem/Internet access (29%) and to report an outage (16%).