The number of households subscribing to satellite TV has increased dramatically during the past year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates “2005 Residential Cable/Satellite TV Satisfaction Study,” released Aug. 17.

According to the study, satellite TV has increased its share of the subscription TV market each year for the past 10 years and its most significant leap came in the past year, with 27 percent of U.S. households subscribing to a direct-to-home satellite television service, up from 19 percent in the 2004 study and 12 percent in the 2001 survey.

However, the gains were joined with a decline in customer satisfaction. “Although satellite providers continue to gain market share, overall customer satisfaction among satellite subscribers has declined while satisfaction among cable subscribers is up,” Steve Kirkeby, senior director of telecommunications research at J.D. Power and Associates, said in a statement. “Overall, satellite customers are still more satisfied with their service than cable subscribers, but if satellite providers want to continue to attract subscribers away from cable, customer satisfaction is a critical area where they can’t afford to lose ground.”