Cable companies such as U.S. leader Comcast might be able to stave off subscriber defections to satellite and fiber-optic TV services and boost customer satisfaction by providing better video-on-demand choices, research firm Parks Associates said today.

About half of the digital-cable subscribers polled who watched VOD on a weekly basis were highly satisfied with their cable company, compared with about 45% of subscribers who received VOD monthly and less than 40% who didn’t use VOD, according to a survey of almost 4,000 North American households with broadband Internet access.

But it remains to be seen whether VOD is enough to prevent cable companies from losing customers to satellite and telecommunications-based services such as DirecTV and Verizon’s FiOS, respectively. About 60% of telco-based TV subscribers were happy with their service, while more than half of the satellite customers were highly satisfied, Parks said.

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