equipment

Probably the most obvious question asked when comparing Dish Network to the nations leading cable provider is how well does the service work. Dish Network has a 99.9% signal reliability rate, while Comcast enjoys nearly the same outage performance, high 90’s. So either service will deliver on its promise of reliability.

Always the most important issues, after reliability are programming and cost. Both Comcast and Dish Network have all of the popular channels both broadcast and cable as well as sports, premium movies, adult and International offerings.

Comcast's Starter Cable package is regularly $53.39 per month, with a 6-month promotional rate of $29.99. The package includes Comcast's basic channel lineup, with music channels added in, roughly 80-channels total.

Dish Network counters with its Classic Bronze 100+ package, providing over 120-channels, with local channels and regional sports networks included. This package is normally $44.99 per month, but in promotion for the first year at $29.99 per month.

Comcast Digital Preferred has more than 100-digital channels and 45-music stations and starts at $68.34 per month. It is in this package that Comcast makes available its on-demand service, but be careful, not all of the programming is free, just what you subscribe and pay for.

It is at this level that Dish Network's overwhelming value comes into play, with two packages, Classic Silver 200 and Classic Gold 250 both offering more for less than Comcast's Digital Preferred. Classic Silver 200 has over 220-channels and is a bargain at $52.99 per month, but Dish discounts it to $37.99 per month for the first year. Classic Gold 250 has more than 260-channels, over 100 more than Comcast's Digital Preferred and at a regular rate of $62.99 per month it is nearly $6 cheaper. Classic Gold is also in promotion for $47.99 per month for the first year.

Comcast Preferred Plus is next and is normally $100.99 per month, but is in promotion for $49.99 per month for the first six months. The package includes the entire Digital Preferred lineup, plus all of the premium movie channels, (HBO, Starz, Showtime and Cinemax).

Comcast Digital Premier is the cable giant's best package, which is all of the programming found in Preferred Plus and includes also a 25-channel sports package for $119.99 per month and discounted to $79.99 for the first six months.

Preferred Plus and Digital Premier are the two packages Comcast targets to perspective customers, as being loaded with entertainment value, but true TV lovers will want to explore Dish Network's ultimate television experience known as America's Everything Pak. With over 295 channels, including 31-premium movies offerings from HBO, Showtime, Starz and Cinemax, a 32-channel Multi-Sports package, and Sirius Satellite Radio stations, the package is a bargain at $102.99. In fact you can add all 140 high-definition channels that Dish offers and still pay less than Comcast's Digital Premier. This package is also in promotion for new customers at just $87.99 for the first year.

Comcast includes High-Definition programming with each level of it's service, but selection is limited to around 30-channels and Comcast charges $7 per month for an HDTV receiver. It seems a much better value, assuming you are serious about HD programming to pay $10 per month and receive Dish Network's 140-HD channels.

A slight edge in sports goes to Comcast, mainly because of baseball. Comcast carries the MLB Network, as well as MLB Extra Innings, where Dish Network has yet to reach an agreement. You can still watch your local teams play on Dish Network, but you won’t be able to subscribe to out-of-market games. MLB extra Innings is normally around $180 for the season, hence the slight edge.

Another area of advantage with Comcast is bundled services, (television, Internet and phone). Dish Network does partner with DSL and phone providers though, so in this area it will be personal preference and weighing Dish Network's superiority in television with Comcast's high-speed Internet options. Keep these things in mind, however when considering a Comcast Triple Play bundle, you could potential be without all three services, should there be an outage, also many Comcast customers report their bills going up by 40-50% after the initial promotion ends.

When it comes to equipment and technology within that equipment, Comcast is left wanting. Dish Network's ViP722 Duo HD-DVR is considered the most superior receiver in the industry and has received editor’s choice awards three consecutive years. Outclassing Comcast in storage capacity for both standard-definition and high-definition, functionality, the Dish receiver can provide a fully functional DVR in multiple rooms and ease of use. Superior technology doesn't do anyone any good if its not easy to use. Dish Network gets full marks here and best for last; the receiver is free to new customers. Comcast charges $13.99 per month for its DVR service, while Dish Network is just $5.98.

Finally some customer service considerations. While most customers will admit that it is not high on their factors list when weighing their options for new service, it should be noted that Customer Satisfaction surveys from last year place Comcast dead last. Only Charter Communications was rated as poorly. Dish Network placed a close second, behind fellow satellite provider DIRECTV.

If you are in an area serviced by Cox Cable, you are not without options for your television service. The following is a comparison of Cox and Dish Network, so it will be a little easier to see how they stack up against each other.

Cox Communications, or Cox Cable is the third largest cable company in the United States, behind only Comcast and Time Warner. It is important to note that Dish Network boasts higher subscriber numbers than Cox overall and has made significant gains in Cox's largest coverage areas; Arizona, Nevada, Louisiana, California and Florida. Dish is on nearly equal footing in other Cox areas most notably, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Virginia and Nebraska.

Like other "Big Cable" providers Cox has the ability to offer customers Internet and Phone service and spends a lot of their advertising efforts on triple play packages or bundles. Dish Network concentrates on providing the very best television value, price and technology to its customers. If you are a consumer in the market for more than just television service, Dish Network also has partnerships with satellite Internet, DSL and phone providers. The overwhelming quality of their television offerings makes it important that these are considered by customers falling into this category.

Cox Basic/Expanded cable has a price tag of $47.95 per month for Standard Digital, $52.95. Dish Network offers no less than three packages with more channels and lower prices. Dish Network's Classic Bronze has over 120-channels and is regularly $39.99 ($24.99 for the first year). Classic Silver has more than 220-channels and is regularly $52.99 - the same as Cox's expanded Digital tier, with significantly more channels. When you consider that you can get this package for ($37.99 for the first year, it's hard to see any value in Cox). Classic Gold from Dish Network adds even more value $62.99 regularly for more than 260-channels and is in promotion right now for $47.99 for the first year.

For the cost of having one television in your home outfitted with Cox's Standard Digital Service $52.95, you can set up your home with Dish's Classic Bronze get over 120-channels in digital format, add more than 60-channels in High-Definition and get one TV set up with an HD-DVR and have digital picture and DVR on a second TV and still be at Cox's price for one TV with digital channels and no DVR service.

Where the comparison really begins to get unfair is Cox fees for additional digital boxes ($6.00 per month) DVR/HD boxes ($12.00 per month) HD-DVR capable boxes ($18.00 per month) Dish Network by comparison charges $5.00 per month for additional receivers, $7.00 per month for additional HD receivers and $12.00 per month for additional HD-DVR receivers. It is also important to understand that Dish Network's technology advantages over Cox in terms of receivers allows Dish customers to operate two TV's with full programming and DVR capabilities while using just one receiver and saving cost.

If you are in the market for HD programming you will be comparing Dish Network's industry leading 140-HD channels, to Cox Cable's 20-50 channels. Cox's HD availability will vary greatly depending on where you live. Cox will argue that there are no additional charges for HD with them, but given the disparity between Dish and Cox, I will gladly pay the additional $10.00 per month.

When it comes to sports programming, both providers are pretty similar. The differences being, Dish Network carries the NFL Network Red Zone channel, Cox does not. Cox however, has MLB Extra Innings, Dish does not.

The choice seems pretty clear when comparing the video services of both companies. Dish Network has significant advantages in the areas of cost, value, programming and technology. If on-demand services, you know, being able to watch what you pay for already, whenever you want, out-of-market baseball games, or bundled services (starting at $129.99) are your thing, than Cox may be the right choice for you. For everyone else it's clearly Dish Network.

You've heard the old saying, "if it were a fight they'd have stopped it". This is exactly the feeling that arises when comparisons are done between AT&T U-verse and Dish Network. The comparison is somewhat skewed by the fact that AT&T U-verse is still in its early stages of development. Anyone who’s been a beta tester for a software product can attest to the pain involved with that, but then again, you usually receive the software for free. Do you really want to pay good money for something that is still being tweaked?

Perhaps all a consumer needs to know about the U-verse product is that while AT&T has advertising it, they have also been selling DIRECTV and in fact, once were partnered with Dish Network and sold both quite aggressively in markets where U-verse was fully deployed.

Admittedly both U-verse and Dish Network are very reliable services, so customers cannot go wrong with either service there, but there are major differences concerning price, programming options and value. Of course in areas where U-verse is available, AT&T will want you to buy more than one of their services, so we will attempt to compare apples with apples and compare the television options.

AT&T U-verse offers a Family package and a U100 package; curiously both are $49 per month. The Family package has 70-channels and the U100 has 130 channels. Anyone else seeing the obvious problem with both packages being priced the same?

Dish Network offers three packages with considerably more value. The first being their Classic Bronze package with over 120-channels and priced regularly at $39.99, and in promotion for $24.99 for the first year. Next is the Classic Silver package with over 220-channels, priced regularly at $52.99 and, also in promotion for $37.99 for the first year. The most overwhelming value is the Classic Gold package with more than 260-channels double the amount U-verse would provide for just $13-more a month, regularly $62.99 - yes - you guessed it, also in promotion for $47.99 for the first year. AT&T U-verse can provide a package with up to 230-channels, but pricing on this U-200 package starts at $64.00 per month.

AT&T's best programming package is the U-450, a package containing nearly 400-channels, including premium movie channel packs for HBO and Cinemax, and a sports package that contains roughly 20-regional sports networks from around the country. This package is regularly $109.00 per month.

The equivalent for Dish Network to the U-450 is the America's Everything package, which contains more than 295-channels, 31-premium movie channels from HBO, Showtime, Starz and Cinemax and a 32-channel Multi-Sports package, which offers NFL Red Zone, NHL Network, NFL Network and NBA TV.

Both AT&T U-verse and Dish Network offer free installation and free equipment for their customers, however Dish Network includes their CNET Editors Choice Award Winning ViP722 Duo HD-DVR among its free offerings. Both U-verse and Dish Network charge just $10 per month for HD-programming, with U-verse offering 110-HD channels and Dish Network coming in at 140-HD channels. DVR service is a bit tilted in Dish Network's favor, award-winning receivers and a storage capacity advantage of 350-hours of standard-definition and 55-hours of high-definition programming, compared to AT&T's 233-hours SD and 65-hours HD.

Although AT&T U-verse is now positioned as a solid alternative to your local cable company, its availability is still quite limited. Still, if you are fortunate to live in an area where it is available, it is very hard to ignore the technology, programming and cost advantages of Dish Network, where value is the name of the game for consumers.

Look out Directv, the good old satellite television provider known as Dish Network is thriving in today’s difficult economy. The new Dish motto “Why Pay More?” has drawn the attention of satellite TV customers across the nation. Many people ordered Directv because they were told that it offers the most high definition and delivers a better signal but the truth is both services a very much alike. Customers decide to switch their service to Dish for many reasons, the most important one being price.

It is ridiculous during a time when every dollar counts to spend more money on one provider when you can get the same thing for less through another. That’s like asking someone which Snickers bar they want to buy- the one that costs $1.00 or the one that costs $1.25. There is just no doubt that people who are educated about their television service would not switch to another service of the same quality for less money. This is a no win situation for Directv unless they cut their monthly cost, upfront deposits, receiver charges and give more advanced equipment, if not dual receivers, to first time customers.

Directv has lost the Versus channel even though they’ve spent years talking about how Dish is the provider that doesn’t want to spend extra money to carry great networks. Dish Network has Versus and it also has more premium channels for the money including Showtime Beyond (horror and sci-fi movies), 5StarMax (Cinemax channel dedicated to award winning films only), Starz Comedy, Starz Kids & Family and HBO Comedy, HBO Zone (all movies in HD). Directv requires customers to pay extra for the Encore premium channels but Dish offers them in the package below America’s Everything Package.

Dish Network does not have the NFL Sunday Ticket but football fans will still have access to Red Zone for $5.99 per month. Directv requires customers to subscribe to the Ticket before they can order Superfan on top of it, then customers are able to get Red Zone $400.00 later. Football fans that are mostly interested in game-only content available in HD will be more than satisfied with Red Zone.

Dish is being humble in their approach when they ask you why you would pay more for the same service because they have so much more to offer than Directv including International channels. As a previous Directv customer with the Premier Package, 1 HD receiver and 2 standard receivers, I can attest to the fact that Dish Network is better. I switched and was able to change my boring existing equipment to 1 HD-DVR that records and plays on 2 different TVs (1 standard-def TV and 1 HD TV) as well as 1 HD only receiver. I had no upfront cost. I have America’s Everything Package and will save a total of $1,044 in the next two years because I have finally made an educated decision.

If my testimony is not enough, let’s look at the facts. The CEO of Dish Network has just announced a dividend of $2.00 on each of the company’s shares. The 3Q09 report also reflected that Dish has exceeded expectations with its gain of 241,000 new subscribers. Dish closed the market day with 5.17% at $20.14- Not too shabby.

There are some definite advantages to choosing a tv provider that is both a national company and very established. Satellite TV has a definite presence in the satellite tv market and is able to offer its customers more because of it. As soon as you subscribe to Satellite TV, benefits and special deals become yours. FIrst off, don’t worry about having to pay for your HD or DVR Receiver, as you’ll get an instant online rebate! You’ll see this deal up on the website. You’ll still have to pay the low monthly fee for HD, DVR or HD/DVR service, but equipment won’t cost you a thing. And you can also know that you’re getting a good quality receiver that has received favorable reviews from customers and offers the latest in advanced features. Other companies often charge for their equipment and may charge for installation. This isn’t true with Satellite TV.Right now you can lock in savings for an entire year, after a mail-in-redemption, with the offer ending February 26, 2008. You can save $10 per month on qualifying packages and receive 4 premium networks -- HBO, SHOWTIME, Starz and Cinemax -- free for a full three months! This gives you tons of entertainment and movies of every genre.Too often, smaller companies are so strapped financially that they can’t even consider offering these special deals. They simply don’t have the financial backing. With Satellite TV it seems like the only thing that doesn’t change are the special offers. The promotions, deals and instant rebates are all just par for the course.

Satellite TV, the leading satellite TV provider in the country organize together to develop a national opt-in audience measurement panel of 100,000 Satellite TV subscribers. This will be the largest measurement panel setup in US. Jointly Satellite TV and TNS will introduce TNS Satellite TView in 2008, which will enable them to take note of total viewership, that includes live and recorded viewing of advertisement and programs on minimum time frame on Satellite TV's selective100,000 customers.“By working with TNS Media Research, our goal is to develop a panel capability that will provide important insights across our advertising platform,” said Eric Shanks, EVP Satellite TV Entertainment. “These insights will in turn provide our advertisers and programming partners an unparalleled level of measurement accuracy and accountability when partnering with Satellite TV.”