Free Satellite TV or Cable: Does it Really matter?
Free Satellite TV or Cable: Does it Really Matter? By Paul M.
Nelson (765 words)
As the big shots of the satellite TV industry do on-air battle
with the giants of cable tv, you may have already found yourself
wondering. does it really matter? I mean, aren't we talking
about different techno-roads to the same place here? Six of one,
half dozen of another? For Pete's sake, I just want to watch the
game!!
I'm going to let the cat out of the bag right away here - I've
actually found an unequivocal answer to this very important TV
question: satellite is beating the snot out of cable every day
of the week. Ok, so now that I've let you in on my subtle bias,
let me lay out for you why satellite is eating cable's lunch and
sending the cable guys into boardroom frenzies. (For additional
technical info on the differences between the two
technologies/services, send me an email with "sat vs. cable" in
the subject line to: pm_nels@yahoo.com and I'll send you the
links you'll need).
Lets first talk about where they both compete evenly. Both cable
and satellite offer lots and lots of programming-including local
channels. Oops. that apparently is where the similarity ends.
How do they compare in regard to technology and delivery?
With satellite TV, your favorite shows come straight from the
satellite (out in peaceful, quiet space) to your dish/tv. Pretty
simple. The cable company, on the other hand, has to first
acquire the signal from a satellite themselves (surprise!), then
they must snake it through miles of fragile 'cable' until it
arrives at your TV. Here's my point: storms, wayward
construction crews, landscapers, and car accidents among other
things, can all inadvertently knock out your cable. My local
cable company has almost always got a nice disclaimer on their
tech support hotline referring to some weather disaster
resulting in 'interruption of service' to some portion of your
region, and that they are working as fast as possible to correct
the problem (and call hold times may be lengthy as a
result-GREAT!).
Here's the good news for satellite TV customers: there are no
storms, wayward earth movers or landscapers in SPACE! The cold,
hard truth is that cable tv viewers experience MORE service
problems, not fewer (contrary to what those finger-pointing
cable industry advertisements say) than their satellite viewing
counterparts. If you're not convinced, just poll ten of your
friends or neighbors with cable tv, and then another ten with
satellite and see how many reception and "interruptions of
service" problems they report. I promise you the satellite
customers are far less concerned about "the weather" than their
cable watching neighbors.
You're also going to get more for less with satellite, hands
down. Most satellite providers offer DVRs (along with free
satellite installation for multiple rooms) as standard
equipment, where most cable companies treat DVR as an upgrade to
nickel and dime you with (along with a list of other fees the
cable industry will get you with) .
And that leads me to the next big issue in the cable-satellite
face off. In a word: competition. Satellite has actually got
some. As a TV consumer, I just love a market economy, don't you?
Your local cable company competes with the satellite industry,
but not with anyone else. The satellite TV industry is filled
with many small and large wholesalers that must compete with
each other as well as with the cable industry. This creates the
competitive economic conditions among satellite dealers that
allow for things like. that free equipment I mentioned, free
installation, free premiums, etc that cable tv providers just
don't feel compelled to (or just can't) offer. Here are just a
couple of representative examples of competitive satellite
providers I work with, that give away the store to gain a
customer:
http://url123.com/znvm3 http://url123.com/znurp
All other factors being equal (and they really are), the TV
battle boils down to technology delivery, and
competition-period. And shrewd consumers are beginning to choose
satellite over cable tv in big numbers, and you can expect to
see this trend causing more and more panic in the cable industry
in the coming years. So to all you cable watchers out there. is
that a thunderstorm moving in on the horizon?...