Satellite TV Providers

If you are living in the United States, you have two main choices as far as satellite TV providers go. While there are many more companies and providers out there, the two biggest names in the satellite TV game are Dish Network and DirecTV. Dish Network and DirecTV offer you the most channels for the least amount of money, in general, which is what most people are looking for, so that is who we will focus on for this article!

Dish Network and DirecTV offer similar features and benefits. But since they are in direct competition with each other, they are constantly changing their channel line ups, adding more features, revamping their current features, and more, in order to try to out do each other and get a leg up on each other and get the lion's share of your business. This means you can often get some really fantastic deals and promotions from both companies, if you are willing and able to shop around and pounce on the right deal when it comes along.

Dish Network

Dish Network as a service was launched in 1996. The first satellite that Dish Network operated and sent into orbit was named EchoStar I, since Dish Network's parent corporation is EchoStar Communications Corporation. They are based out of Englewood, Colorado. Today, the company has 9 satellites and provides over 500 channels of video, audio and data satellite services to over 8.5 million customers in the United States. Dish Network also offers high speed satellite Internet services, Interactive TV (on demand programming), and high definition TV (HD tv).

They were the first company to offer a satellite receiver with a built in digital video recorder - also called a DVR. A standard Dish Network DVR receiver lets you stop, rewind, fast forward and record up to 60 hours of live television programming, and more advanced DVR receivers offer you more enhanced features. Dish Network can be purchased online or through a local retailer, and they offer equipment installation. Equipment installation usually comes with a fee, but you can often get it for free or at reduced rates through many of the special sales and promotions they run.

DirecTV

As a whole, DirecTV serves over 12 million American homes and another additional 1.5 million homes in Latin countries. They also have promotions with companies like AOL, TiVo and Microsoft that add to their customer base. With DirecTV, you have the option of several different dish designs, like their more commonly used 18 inch design and an oval or low noise blockdown dish that is great for receiving local channels, HD tv or Spanish language programming. Other DirecTV compatible dishes are made by companies like Sony, Phillips and RCA. Many current DirecTV promotions will give you all of the equipment for free with a one year commitment to service, where purchasing the equipment separately can cost from $50 to $200 or more. With other services and features available with DirecTV, you can get high speed data communications and more.