'Greedy' Pay TV Costs Too Much, According to Poll Commissioned by TVFreedom

The pay-TV industry isn't popular, with large numbers of people thinking the service is too expensive and its providers are "greedy," according to Harris Poll results commissioned by broadcast TV ally TVFreedom released Tuesday. Ninety-four percent of pay-TV subscribers think providers should be required to make fees easy to understand, 90 percent believe one shouldn't need to get a double- or triple-play package to get the lowest TV service pricing, 74 percent believe DVR/set-top box rental fees are too high, and 51 percent feel they have affordable, competitive choice in pay-TV providers, Harris said. Among pay-TV subscribers, it said, 21 percent said equipment rental fees are their biggest complaint, other than price, about their service, followed by poor service or connection quality. Harris also said that among all those surveyed, 86 percent believe pay-TV services are too expensive, and 77 percent believe pay-TV providers put more weight on profit than service quality. Harris said, 52 percent describe pay-TV providers as "greedy," with 22 agreeing with the adjective "unpleasant" and 18 percent with "heartless." Positive adjectives like "convenient" (26 percent) and "innovative" (13 percent) were less often selected. The poll was done online in December of 2,047 U.S. adults ages 18 and up, of whom 1,536 subscribed to a pay-TV service, Harris said. NCTA didn't comment.