Sunday, September 8, 2013

Satellite Television Vs Cable TV - And The Winner Is ...

By Brian Stevens


Cable Has Pretty Much Caught Up With Satellite Television With Regards To Level Of Quality, Customer Service, And Cost, However There Are Some Differences Between The Two You'll Want To Be Aware If You're Considering Investing In Satellite Or Cable TV. Here Is A Short Comparison Of The Two:

cable TV vs satellite TV Price

Cable could cost as much as $25 a month more compared to satellite TV for similar service. That's $300 per year more. This difference is due in part because cable television providers must pay local taxes and fees

As an example, in my neck of the woods cable TV costs $57 per month for 142 satellite channels, while I can get Dish Network for $24.99 per month for 190 channels, and also three months of HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and Starz.

In terms of price increases, cable TV costs have increased by approximately 40% since 1998, while Dish Network and DirecTV's prices have gone up by barely 8% in the same period of time.

Components

With cable television you get a receiver which gets a television signal from a cable television company through an underground coaxial or fiber optic cable. The cable box receiver decodes the incoming TV signal and sends it to your TV.

Satellite TV companies supply you with a satellite TV dish which captures the signal from the company's satellite, and a receiver which decodes that signal and sends it to your television.

For both systems you'll need a receiver for every TV in your home that you'd like to watch satellite or cable TV programming on. Cable TV companies charge $3 to $5 per month extra for each and every receiver, while Dish Network and DirecTV receivers are free.

DVR Recorders

Digital video recorders, or DVRs, allow you to record your favorite shows. In addition to recording your shows you can also pause, rewind, and also fast forward live Television programs, so that you can answer the phone, view a portion of the program you missed, or fast forward through a commercial.

With the typical cable DVRs it's possible to record 2 different shows simultaneously, and record up to 100 hours of programming. So when you have 3 TV shows that come on at the same time you can record one and watch one, or record both shows, but you are going to miss the third show.`

DirecTV will allow you to record up to 4 television shows at once and record as many as 1.000 hours of programs, and Dish Network lets you record as many as 6 shows at once plus record up to 2,000 hours of programming.



Installing The Components

The two satellite television companies, and also almost all cable providers, will install all the components necessary to receive their programming absolutely free. To make sure you will not have any equipment breakdowns later on, you need to ensure that the company that installs your system uses qualified installers.

Dependability

Cable television outages average 3% to 5% depending on the company that installs the particular cable TV system, while Dish Network as well as DirecTV blackouts average 1%.

Customer Satisfaction

Dish Network is ranked number one in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index among the top rated cable providers and satellite TV companies, while DirecTV is actually ranked number two.

Customer Service

Customer service for the majority of satellite TV as well as cable TV providers is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which includes holidays, and with most providers the service is good.

Bottom Line

There's no doubt about it. Satellite TV stands out as the ultimate winner with regards to price, variety of programming, quantity of channels, recording time, and customer satisfaction.






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