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American Morning
David Heim on TV Options
Aired August 15, 2001 - 11:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You ladies were talking about television programming. What about the television itself, or at least the way you watch television, whether it's the old-fashioned cable and there's now digital cable that's out, and of course, there's satellite.
Well, which one is the best? I know many of us inside this building have been asking ourselves that question. "Consumer Reports" did some snooping around, and to find out exactly what they did find out, David Heim, who's the managing nosing around. Let's find out what they found. David Heim is managing editor of "Consumer Reports" magazine is joining us from New York.
Good to see you again, David. How are you?
DAVID HEIM, "CONSUMER REPORTS" MAGAZINE: My pleasure to be here. I am fine.
HARRIS: Now, let me ask you this. Is this one of those deals where the answer is, "well, it depends on what you're looking for"?
HEIM: Yes, it depends on what you're looking for. There's no real clear-cut answer because people have different needs and people have different wants in what they expect out of that big black box.
HARRIS: All right. Well, one of the first things people ask about is which one costs the most?
HEIM: Well, there, cable has the advantage. You can -- if you're not already hooked up for cable, that's the cheapest way to get good quality picture and sound. The satellite services tend to be more expensive up front. Cable rates tend to be more volatile. Satellite rates tend to be more stable over time.
HARRIS: OK. How about local programming? Which one is easier or cheaper to get your local stations on?
HEIM: Right now, cable has the advantage there as well. The satellite services are bringing more local programming in, but cable still has the edge.
HARRIS: All right. Now let's look at where the rubber meets the road here. How about in picture and sound quality? And there are some people that swear that -- usually they swear that some sort of digital service is going to be better than whatever else you may have to choose from.
HEIM: Well, digital picture and sound are superior to regular analog, and their satellite has the edge. Our tests show and our surveys show that you get a better picture, better sound quality when you go with satellite.
HARRIS: Even better than digital cable?
HEIM: The gap is a little narrower there, because you're comparing digital to digital. But again, seems to be a slight edge for satellite.
HARRIS: All right. HDTV, that's still a ways off for many of us, but that is coming down the road a bit. Which service do you think would actually service that one better?
HEIM: Right now satellite has the edge on high definition TV service. The cable providers are a little slow out of the gate on that. The satellite services have a jump on them there.
HARRIS: All right. Let's talk about the satellite services, since they did top out on a number of different categories there. Did you actually rate which service was best?
HEIM: We kind of looked at that with a broad brush and compared regular cable service to digital cable service to satellite. We weren't looking at individual companies. That's -- that's a bigger survey than we were able to do for the September issue of "Consumer Reports." But what we did find is that people were far and away, more satisfied with satellite service than with regular cable service.
HARRIS: Yes? OK, let me ask you one final question, and this is the one thing that drove me nuts and drove me to change my service. Did you check on customer service? Because that's the experience that really drives most customers mad about whatever service they get. Sometimes, if they've got great service, where the picture is great and sounds great but the customer service is terrible, they'll take a worse service just to get away from that.
HEIM: Absolutely right. And there, satellite really has the edge. Cable companies, of course, are the companies people love to hate...
(LAUGHTER)
HEIM: ... and our survey results bear that out. Satellite gets much higher marks in customer satisfaction.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. David Heim, thanks much for coming and giving us a little sneak peek at the survey. Appreciate it. Take care. We'll talk to you some other time.
HEIM: OK.
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