Cable TV Has Essentially Caught Up To Satellite Television With Regards To Level Of Quality, Customer Service, And Value, However There Are Some Differences Between The Two You'll Want To Be Aware If You Are Considering Investing In Cable Or Satellite Television. Here Is A Short Comparison Of The Two:

cable TV vs satellite TV Cost Comparison

Cable TV can cost as much as $25 per month more than satellite TV for similar service. That's $300 a year more. This difference is due in part because cable television companies pay local fees and taxes

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

With regards to rate increases, cable TV prices have increased by around 40% since 1998, while Dish Network and DirecTV's rates have gone up by just 8% within the exact same time frame.

Components

With cable TV you get a receiver which gets a television signal coming from a cable TV company through an underground coaxial or fiber optic cable. This cable box receiver decodes the inbound TV signal and sends it to your TV set.

With satellite TV you get a dish that captures the signal originating from a satellite, and a receiver which translates that signal and sends it to your television.

With cable TV you need to pay anywhere from $3 to $5 a month for each cable box receiver you would like hooked up to your Televisions. With Dish Network and DirecTV your recievers cost nothing.

DVR Recorders

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

Cable television DVRs let you record up to 100 hours of your favorite TV shows. In addition, they offer the option of recording 2 shows at the same time. The drawback with this is if you have 3 shows that come on at the same time you can view one show and record one, record two shows, but you won't be able to view the third show.`

Dish Network, on the other hand, allows you to record 6 different television shows simultaneously, plus you're able to record up to 2,000 hours of programming, so you will not miss out on your favorite television shows. With DirecTV you'll be able to record 4 different television shows at the same time, plus record 1,000 hours of programming.

Both of their DVRs allow you to look at a TV program in one room in your home, and finish watching it in another room.

System Installation

Thanks to the rivalry between satellite and cable television providers, equipment installation for either one is provided for free. You need to make sure you get a professional installation company and also a professional installer, or you may experience equipment problems in the future.

Dependability

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

Customer Satisfaction

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

Customer Service

The two satellite TV companies give you 24/7 customer service so you will not be left hanging in case anything goes wrong with your satellite television system and you require assistance.

The Bottom Line

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