FCC: Pay-TV complaints decreased by a fifth in Q2

Michelle Clancy | 31-07-2012

The FCC has released its report on consumer satisfaction for communications, finding that consumer inquiries and informal complaints received and processed by the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) during the second quarter of calendar year 2012 decreased by nearly 21% from the previous quarter, especially for pay-TV.


Cable and satellite services specifically dropped a full 17%, driven by a decrease in inquiries across topic areas, including billing and rates, service, the Satellite Television Extension & Localism Act, over-the-air tunrers and programming issues.

Inquiries regarding billing and rates constituted more than 38% of the inquiries in this category during the second quarter.

The number of radio and television broadcasting inquiries meanwhile decreased by more than 44%, primarily due to a decrease in inquiries concerning programming issues.

When it came to informal complaints during the second quarter of 2012, the overall number in the top five reported categories decreased by almost 2%.

Video services however contributed a large portion of that.
Cable and satellite services complaints decreased by more than 22% from Q1. The number of radio and television broadcasting complaints decreased by more than 44% again, also due to a decrease in complaints regarding programming issues.