We have to point out what we could best phrase as “curious interpretation of the facts” in a Multichannel News article—“Satellite Rules J.D. Power Survey”—about the market research firm’s latest cable TV/satellite TV customer satisfaction study. To start with, the lead is baffling: "DirecTV and EchoStar Communications once again dominated J.D. Power & Associates’ annual customer-satisfaction survey...."

The fact is that Cable took home the trophy for highest customer satisfaction in three of the four regions. Satellite provider DirecTV got the top honors in one region, and, despite the performance credited to it by Multichannel, EchoStar’s Dish Network didn’t place first in a single region. Cox Communications had the highest score in the West, Bright House Networks in the South, and over-builder WOW! in the North Central region. And here’s another baffling declaration: "J.D. ranked DirecTV as the best pay TV company overall, with the direct-broadcast satellite provider receiving the top rankings in overall satisfaction; performance and reliability; cost of service; billing; image; offerings and promotions; and customer service." Actually, after poring through J.D. Power’s exhaustive 469-page report, we couldn’t find a single place where the firm declared an “overall” winner. Curious, indeed.