Cable And Satellite Television Compared - Which Is Better?

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Cable And Satellite Television Compared - Which Is Better?
Cable TV has pretty much caught up with satellite television as far as level of quality, customer service, and price, however there are some differences between the two you will want to bear in mind if you're considering investing in satellite or cable television. Here's a short comparison of the two:

Price Comparison

Cable TV could cost as much as $25 per month more than satellite television for comparable services. That is $300 per year more. This difference is due in part because cable providers need to pay local taxes and fees

Where I reside in Arizona if I were to get cable TV it would cost me almost $60 per month for 140 TV channels. If I were to decide to purchase Dish Network service it would cost me $24.99 for 190 TV channels.

Another difference is the rate increases. Cable Television service has increased by 40% since 1998, while satellite television service has increased by a mere 8% within that exact same time period.

Components

Cable providers provide you with a receiver, or cable box, which gets a TV signal via an underground cable. The cable box receiver decodes the inbound TV signal and transmits it to your television.

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

For both systems you will need a receiver for every television in your house that you want to view cable or satellite Television programming on. With cable television you will need to pay between $3 to $5 per month for each cable box receiver you want connected to your Televisions. With Dish Network and DirecTV your recievers are free.

DVR

DVRs (digital video recorders) are built into satellite or cable receivers and allow you to record Television programs. In addition to recording your shows you can also pause, rewind, and also fast forward live Television programs, so you can answer the phone, view part of the program you missed, or fast forward through a commercial.

Cable DVRs allow you to record as much as 100 hours of your favorite TV shows. In addition, they give you the option of recording 2 TV shows simultaneously. The drawback with this is if you have got 3 shows that come on simultaneously you can view one show and record one, record two shows, however, you won't have the ability to view the third show.`

DirecTV lets you record 4 shows at once plus record 1.000 hours of programs, and Dish Network lets you record as many as 6 shows at one time plus record as many as 2,000 hours of programming.

Each of their DVRs allow you to view a show in one room in your home, and finish watching it in a second room.

System Set Up

The two satellite providers, and even the majority of cable providers, will install all the components necessary to receive their programming free of charge. To ensure that you don't have equipment failures down the road, you want to be sure the company that sets up your components uses qualified technicians.

Dependability

DirecTV as well as Dish Network outages average only 1%. Cable television outages, conversely, are between 3% to 5% - up to 5 times greater than cable.

Customer Ratings

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

Support Services

The two satellite television companies offer 24/7 customer service so that you will not be left hanging in the event that anything should go wrong with your satellite television system and you need help.

Conclusion

With regards to program assortment, number of channels, recording capability, dependability, cost, plus customer satisfaction, satellite television beats cable TV hands down.