Satellite Tv Fact And Fiction

Author: Dish TV Expert

Satellite TV, just the mentioning it, elicits many responses. Some are fearful that Satellite TV will not operate as well as cable, some folks get excited because of the cutting edge technology behind it and others remain neutral. With all of the claims against, by cable and for, by the satellite providers, sorting out fact from fiction can be a tricky business, but let's give it a try.

Cable is available to about 89% of all households in the United States. There are areas in every state in the country where cable will not provide infrastructure, because not enough people populate those given areas, therefore, not a moneymaker for them. Satellite TV is available everywhere. The only requirement is a clear view to the southern sky and you are in business.

All cable companies offer local television programming through affiliate feeds from ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and PBS. Currently Dish Network offer local channels to all but 29-local markets, roughly 94% of the country, while DIRECTV offer locals to all but 58-local markets, approximately 89% of U.S. households.

The notion that satellite television is notoriously unreliable is also false. Independent researches such as JD Power and others have compiled data showing the average downtime for satellite TV is approximately 9-12 minutes per year. Compared to an average for all cable companies in the United States at 23-hours per year. There are some reasons for this, think about cable for a moment, your home is connected to a line from usually a telephone pole and you are also connected to a grid usually comprising everyone in your neighborhood. If a drunk hits a telephone pole two streets from you, it is likely you and probably several hundred of your neighbors will be without cable and probably for some time. During hurricane season in the Gulf States, it is widely reported that satellite TV customers were able to get back online, sometimes weeks before cable customers, for the same reason. Satellite TV is individual to your home and because of that a quick adjustment or repair to the satellite dish on your home is usually all it takes to get you back in business.

Picture quality also goes to the satellite providers. Even though cable has been ramped up to all digital from analog by the feds, satellite remains unfiltered all-digital signal, as it always has been. Bandwidth limitations also make it difficult for cable to keep up with the amount of high-definition content and channels that the satellite providers can offer their customers.

Cost is always forefront for today's consumers and once again satellite providers give more value – it's approximately $0.40 per channel compared to cable's $1.02 per channel. Cable's monthly's sometimes come out lower, because they offer fewer channels in their packages.

Most cable companies offer "on-demand" channels, which are pretty popular with cable customers and although satellite providers have made attempts to catch up in this area, their versions of on-demand require HD-DVR's and high-speed Ethernet connections – that's right, content is downloaded through your broadband connection. Advantage cable here or is it? When you really examine on-demand, usually anything worth watching you are either already paying for or would have to pay to see. Seems better to get yourself a DVR pay the lower rate for more channels through satellite and record everything.
Cable companies win hands down with customers wanting to get bundle deals on one bill through one company. A bundle being, television, Internet and phone services. If you are not someone who minds having service through different companies, you can save some money, getting the values that satellite TV providers offer and then adding a high-speed DSL and phone service.

So the tale of the tape seems to surprisingly stack up in satellite TV's favor in terms of quality, reliability, service and value. The choice seems clear unless you are addicted to those local cable access channels, you know the one's that show the school lunch menu and highlights of the parade for three fourth of July's ago.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/satellite-tv-fact-and-fiction-1317713.html

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