We’ve seen all of the television commercials, heard the radio ads, and gazed upon the billboards as we drive down the highway- the war is on and in high gear between the cable and satellite companies, and then more intensely between DirecTV and Dish Network. Each company is constantly ripping apart the other, making negative claims about the service and/or technology in the process. So whom are we supposed to listen to for the best home television entertainment plan? You’ve got to look at the concrete facts while forgetting about any rumors that you may have heard. To help you out with this, we’ve done the all of the research, so you don’t have to.
Starting with customer satisfaction: according to JD Power and Associates, satellite television is the clear winner with an outage average of only 1%. Cable comes in a surprising second place with an average outage of 3-5%. (Those stats are a bit different than the information you may have heard in the cable television ad campaigns.)
When it comes to the monthly bill, here are the latest stats and you can be the judge and make up your own mind. The average 60-channel satellite television monthly cost, including all televisions hooked up to the system, is roughly $33. Digital programming is included, as this is the only kind of programming that the satellite companies offer. On the other hand, the typical 64-channel analog cable bill will run about $40 per month, with digital programming an extra $11, and additional television hook-ups can cost between $4 and $10 for each set, each month.
In our opinion, satellite is the clear, overall winner.
Next, we’re on to the battle of the 2 top satellite television providers- Dish Network and DirecTV. Each offers something that the other doesn’t. For example, DirecTV is the only satellite with the NFL Sunday Ticket, a subscription channel that grants access to 14 professional football games each week during the season. Both main satellites have a different variety of college football games with add-on programming. But, if you have a high-definition television (HDTV), you’ll be interested to know that Dish Network carries 29 high-def channels compared to the 9 of DirecTV.
International programming, anyone? Dish Network is once again the clear winner here, boasting 30 foreign language/culture channels compared to DirecTV’s 10, with most of them in Spanish.
If you’re more of a homebody that likes to stay on the couch and access Pay-Per-View channels, Dish Network has 60 of these channels while DirecTV falls a bit short with 55. Adult PPV’s are available on 5 DirecTV channels and 6 of Dish Network’s.
