Survey: Americans Don't Like Their Cable Companies

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (CBS) -- The results of a new survey on American customer satisfaction will likely surprise no one – people can't stand their cable companies.

Subscription TV services scored the worst in the survey of 43 industries, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

It's not getting any better, either. The survey found that satisfaction with cable and satellite TV companies dropped 3.4 percent to a score of 63 out of 100, the lowest it's been in seven years.

That's bad news for cable companies in the age of Netflix, the ACSI says.

"There was a time when pay TV could get away with discontented users without being penalized by revenue losses from defecting customers, but those days are over," says Claes Fornell, ACSI Chairman and founder. "Today people have more alternatives than ever before. Consumer abandonment of pay TV is shaking up the industry and lower satisfaction could mean even more cord cutting by subscribers ahead."

Two of the lowest-scoring companies were Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which saw big drops in customer satisfaction after their failed merger. One service that's actually improving in satisfaction is Verizon FiOS, according to the survey.