Popularity

Both Cable TV and Satellite TV are popular. Although cable still is more popular overall, satellite TV has made huge gains on cable TV.

Equipment

Cable TV systems require a cable to be installed from the network to your house. If your street has no cable you may need to wait a while before it is available in your area. Besides the cable you need a receiver. With digital services you need an additional box.

Satellite TV requires a satellite dish, a receiver and a cable from the dish to your TV (no digging in your garden).

Reception Quality

Cable TV has analog channels and even though you can upgrade to digital services, analog channels will still be analog, meaning an often fuzzy picture. Satellite TV is completely digital, which gives you all the advantages of digital systems. Very heavy rain or snow might obstruct reception briefly, but generally this happens very rarely. Reception quality is much better with Satellite TV.

Programming

Here it gets really interesting. Cable TV can handle up to 260 channels. Satellite TV may handle more channels. Also, Satellite TV is more advanced in HDTV (High Definition Television) services.

Pricing

Usually Satellite TV is less expensive than Cable TV due to many additional costs that are related to Cable TV: franchise fees, taxes, plus costs for any pay per view services, and equipment costs. Dish Network Programming Package starts at only $29.99 per month.

Interactive Services

In general Satellite TV has more interactive services than Cable TV. Digital services like Dish Networks DVR (Digital Video Recorder) which gives the option to rewind while recording even in live broadcasts, EPG (Electronic Program Guide), Instant Weather, video on demand, etc. are all available on Satellite TV, but not all are available on Cable TV.

High Speed Internet

Cable has high speed broadband internet services. Satellite has this too, but is somewhat slower.
Directv: offers Direcway High Speed Internet, which is ultra fast but somewhat expensive.

Overall conclusion: Satellite TV is less expensive, has better picture quality (digital signal) and gives you more channels and programming options than cable TV.

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