In this day and age, there are a number of companies that provide satellite TV service, but there are two companies that are considered the biggest players in this field. These are DirecTV and DISHnetwork, which is the oldest, most well known, and most established of the TV satellite companies.

The nature of this competition means that both DISHnetwork and DirecTV have very similar types of satellite TV services and programming packages. It seems that both of these companies are constantly adding new features and bringing new innovations to the market in an attempt to outdo each other, as well as the up and coming TV satellite dish companies that want to join in the competition.

This is all great news for the consumers who benefit from this competition and the drive to innovate. The competition keeps the prices of the home dish network TV services in check and from going up too fast, while the innovations have meant that satellite customers are often the first to enjoy new technologies and advancements in delivering great entertainment.

For many years, the cable television providers operated in markets with no competition at all and this lack of competition allowed the price of cable service to escalate freely. The price hikes that cable customers experienced on a regular basis was one of the things that prompted large numbers of consumers to look for an alternative. It was not long before they found that dish network programming provided a better selection at a lower cost.

DISHnetwork is acknowledged as having the largest customer base in the United States and they were the first satellite company to offer a digital video recorder, or DVR, as an option. This is an innovative alternative to video taping and has become very popular, allowing people to not only record entire programs onto a hard drive in the DVR, but also to pause and rewind live broadcasts. Their most recent innovations were the introduction of interactive TV, or on-demand programming, and high definition (HD) transmissions.

The DISHnetwork services are widely available both online through the corporate website and through local retailers. They do offer installation services on new equipment, unlike DirecTV, and often the company will run special promotions that allow new customers to get their basic satellite dish antenna and satellite TV receiver very inexpensively or completely free.