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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.

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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?...

About the Author

Paul M. Nelson resides in Raleigh,

NC and possesses more than a decade of experience in

microbiological and molecular biology research and

diagnostics, as well as a consuming interest in

satellite technology. He is an occasional author of

articles pertaining to the satellite television

industry, and can be reached through

http://url123.com/k8744, or at pm_nels@yahoo.com