Most television viewers generally agree that they like to have as many channels as possible, value the clarity of the picture, and appreciate complementary technology that makes the quality of their experience watching TV better. Most of all, they like getting good value for the money that the spend on television entertainment. Given all of these widely agreed upon criteria for things that TV viewers appreciate, it's puzzling why anybody would choose to subscribe to cable TV when satellite TV providers like Dish Network do all of those things so much better than the cable TV industry does.
The first thing at issue is the number of channels. The average cable TV provider offers about one hundred channels and the exceptional ones offer about one hundred and fifty channels. This is a very limited selection compared to what Dish Network offers. Dish Network offers programming packages as large as two hundred and seventy channels that can easily be brought up to three hundred with the addition of optional channels.
While most people don't think about it as much, the fact that Dish Network offers so many channels means that Dish Network can also offer more options for programming packages. These programming packages that are available to Dish Network's subscribers can range from about twenty channels all the way up to the two hundred and seventy channel package already mentioned. In between there are numerous gradations like sixty channel packages, one hundred and twenty channel packages, one hundred and eighty, two hundred and ten, and two hundred and twenty five channel programming packages to name just a few of the options. Once a package is chosen, the subscriber can always have Dish Network customize it for his or her own specific needs by adding extra channels onto it. These extra channels can include those devoted to specific kinds of sports, adult programming, satellite radio, local channels, or any of nineteen different foreign languages. This degree of customization- which more or less guarantees that Dish Network subscribers don't pay for more channels than they want or can use- is something that no cable TV company can offer.
Dish Network also offers complimentary technology that the cable TV either doesn't provide at all or doesn't provide with any consistency. Digital TV is one example of this. Digital TV essentially breaks all elements of television programming down into computer data before it's transmitted. Once digital TV programming arrives at its destination, special receiver equipment cleans all of the interference out of it and reassembles it into a high quality picture that analog TV simply can't match. While this technology is possible with cable TV, most cable TV companies don't offer it and those that do expect subscribers to pay extra for it. With Dish Network, all programming is transmitted in digital format.
Value is another thing that Dish Network offers in such a way so that cable TV just can't compete with it. Cable TV starts at about seventy dollars a month, but Dish Network's entry level programming package is only thirty dollars a month. By the time you're paying seventy dollars a month with Dish Network, you're getting hundreds of channels- many of them probably in high definition. With this difference, you're clearly getting a lot more television for your money with Dish Network, and that's the definition of value.
What isn't as clear is why anyone would continue to subscribe to cable TV when it has all of these shortcomings and Dish Network is available anywhere.
