Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Which Is Better - Satellite TV Or Cable TV?

By Brian Stevens


Cable Television Has Essentially Caught Up With Satellite Television As Far As Level Of Quality, Customer Support, And Price, However There Are Several Differences Between The Two That You Should Be Aware If You Are Considering Paying For Cable Or Satellite TV. Here They Are In A Nutshell .

Cable TV vs Satellite TV Cost

Cable TV could cost up to $25 per month more compared to satellite TV for similar services. That is $300 a year more. This difference is due in part because cable companies have to pay local fees and taxes

Where I live in Arizona if I were to purchase cable it would cost me nearly $60 per month for 140 TV channels. If I were to get Dish Network service it would cost me $25 for 190 program channels.

A further difference is the price increases. Cable TV service has increased by around 40% since 1998, while satellite TV service has increased by a mere 8% in that same length of time.

Equipment Comparison

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

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

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

DVR

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

Cable DVRs will let you record as much as 100 hours of your favorite shows. Additionally they provide you with the option of recording 2 shows simultaneously. So when you have 3 shows that come on simultaneously you will be able to record one and view one, or record both TV shows, but you'll miss the third show.`

Dish Network, however, lets you record 6 different TV shows simultaneously, and you can actually record up to 2,000 hours of programming, so that you won't miss your favorite shows. With DirecTV you are able to record 4 different shows simultaneously, plus record as many as 1,000 hours of programming.

Both of their DVRs let you see a television show in one room, and finish seeing it in another room.

Installing The Components

Both satellite TV providers, and even most cable companies, will install all of the components required to receive their programming for free. You need to ensure that you get a dependable installation company plus a qualified installation technician, or you may have equipment difficulties down the line.

Reliability

Cable TV blackouts average 3% to 5% depending on the company that sets up the particular cable TV system, while Dish Network and DirecTV black outs average 1%.

Consumer Rankings

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

Customer Service

Customer service for the majority of satellite and cable television providers is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including holidays, and with the majority of companies the service is good.

Summary

There's no doubt about it. Satellite television stands out as the ultimate winner when it comes to value, variety of programming, quantity of channels, recording time, as well as customer satisfaction.






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