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Well it is the time of year when both cable and satellite TV companies are raising rates.Comcast got the ball rolling in November of 2008, with notice that they would be increasing costs to their customers. Dish Network followed up with their own announcement that took effect in early February of 2009, also raising prices on customers.

DirecTV is the latest major player to announce a rate increase. The DirecTV price increase will take effect in early March, and will raise the prices of most packages between $3 and $5 dollars each. DirecTV is citing higher programming costs as the reason for the price hike. Direct TV prices have been raised for the past three years.

All in all, the increase won’t break any budgets. When you look at it logically, they are basically raising the price of service about a dime a day, well worth it for most Americans who watch between one and four hours of television each day. Still, it seems as if consumers are getting nickel and dimed to death, even with the economy going into the tank.

On the other hand, compare DIRECTV vs Dish Network and that will provide you a good idea on what satellite television will offer. One example is the price charged for DVR service every month. The Direct TV DVR is about $6 per month, while Comcast charges upwards of $15 for their DVR service. Charges like this really can increase your bill.

DirecTV had another great quarter to finish out 2008. They added over 300,000 customers in the last quarter of 2008, while Comcast lost a half a million. That in itself show that DirecTV feels comfortable raising rates, even though the economy continues to slow to a crawl. Dish Network will certainly have a hard time keeping up with Direct TV in 2009, as they have lost a key reseller, with AT&T switching over and offering Direct TV service this year.

Ever since the invention of the TV set, it has been the top media outlet in the modern world. In the United States alone, there are millions of people who rely on television for both information from news and entertainment from daily scheduled programming. Today, a popular method of television broadcasting is done via cable television.

Cable television or CATV was commonly used in mountainous regions where broadcast signals are weak, so they used coaxial cables to broadcast television programming. Today, it is a common television service and in the United States there are a lot of cable providers to choose from. Unfortunately though in most areas, you will just have one cable TV company serving your area, so if you want something different, you will have to go with satellite TV. This is not always a bad thing, its a good idea to line up the companies side by side, comparing Direct TV vs Comcast.

The biggest cable company in the United States is Comcast, it is by far the company with the most subscribers. It also offers internet service and is currently in second place and fourth place in providing telephone service. However, they have a reputation for having the worst customer service among any company or government agency in the United States. Next is the Cox cable company which is owned by Cox enterprises. They have almost 6 million subscribers to their cable service, internet and phone service. They are currently the third biggest cable company in the country. The third largest in terms of revenue is Charter Cable TV company. In terms of revenue, they are behind only from Time Warner cable and Comcast. Then we have Bright House cable which is the sixth largest cable TV company. Most of these companies now also offer home phone service.

Many are satisfied with the Comcast basic cable packages, however if these do not catch your fancy you can also turn to satellite TV companies like Dish Network who also provides high definition or HD service for those who want it. The only problem being it is sometimes difficult to get satellite in your apartment

Cable TV deals are easy to find, that is as long as you aren’t already a subscriber to Comcast or Time Warner.

The reason for this is due to the fact the cable television company wants to increase their subscriber base, so of course they are ready to offer you a good deal, usually for the first six months of service. The cable provider understands if you sign up with them, you probably will set up a with one of their triple play bundle that puts all of your services together like voice, video and hi speed internet.

You can usually get a triple play bundle for just $99 per month for the first year. Consider the following example with cable company pricing: Basic TV costs $55 a month, high speed internet is $45 per month, and phone service is $30 a month. With prices like this, your overall bill would be $140 per month before taxes and fees that always seem to find their way onto your cable bill. With prices like this, a promotional deal that offers all three services for $99, even if it is just for 6 months looks pretty good to the average cable TV customer.

But what kind of issues can this result in Well think about where you will be once your promotional period is over. You will have all of your television sets hooked up to cable TV, your internet connection with your e-mail address through the cable company, and of course your phone service through the cable company as well. But all at once your price goes up nearly 45%, from around $100 every month to $140+ every month. Its not alway easy to switch out of your provider?

Maybe, maybe not. The smart thing to do ahead of time is compare companies before making your final choice. Lining up DIRECTV vs cable ahead of time is the way to go.

While you might logically say it is easy to switch to some kind of DirecTV deal or something else from your local phone company like FiOS from Verizon. That is easier said than done, however. Usually the time and inconvenience of switching from cable to satellite TV makes the customer yield to whatever service they have. Even though the monthly bill is high, the subscriber stays with the cable company because they have all the services in a package, making it harder to switch. That is what the cable television company counts on when giving the subscriber a good short term deal.

Ever since its invention, Americans have always been fascinated by the television. It is a worldwide phenomenon and is currently the leading form of media ahead of print media and radio media. Even with the revolution of the internet, the television is still the number one source of all news and entertainment programs we all love and crave. From cartoons to reality shows to TV series, they all occupy our time and keep us entertained. There are a lot of different shows available however not all TV companies give us all the shows we want or sometimes give the shows we don’t want. Good thing there are a number of television providers to choose from.

If having local television just doesn’t work for you then the next option is to subscribe to a cable company. There are a lot of different packages cable companies offer and they have different channels. May it be time warner cable, cox cable, Comcast cable company, Charter cable or Bright House cable, they have different things to offer and it depends solely upon your taste which one is the best.

Then there is a choice of satellite television providers between Dish network and Direct TV. Satellite television today offers the most choices of channels and programs and they usually have more of the channels then cable television has. However, this is the most expensive choice as you have to buy a satellite receiver, unless there is a promotion. Today, there are plenty of DIRECTV satellite deals out there designed to get you set up at a very low price, or no cost at all.

Whatever your taste is, there are a lot of different options to choose from to satisfy your television needs. One of the smart things to do before selecting a pay TV provider is to compare services. A nice low price option out there on the market is the DirecTV Choice with DVR. Doing a side by side comparison of Comcast or DirecTV will give you an idea of which company gives you the channels and services you want. That way you can determine whether you want cable or satellite television. Of course, keep an eye on things as at any time there could be a change in Direct TV charges.

That way you can be sure everyone in the family is happy with their entertainment choice.

One of the best things about modern cable and satellite television is the explosion of sports programming now available to customers across the country. Specialized sports packages like ESPN Gameplan give the customer access to nearly 20 college football games every weekend.  Even the NCAA Men’s tournament has additional coverage with the Mega March Madness on Direct TV.

Content is king today, and as the saying goes the networks of course want to deliver as much sports content as possible to the sports fan so they can make more money on advertising. Quite a few new all-sports channels have sprung up in the past couple of years. Included among these are Altitude Sports, which carries Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche matches, as well as the Big 10 network and the Mountian, the network of the Mountain West conference.

Sure these channels are great for people in certain parts of the nation, but disagreements between the providers of sports programming and cable networks that deliver the content have resulted in trouble at times to the customer. For example, the Big Ten Network started airing in 2007, but the network was unable to strike a deal with big cable provider Time Warner. Customers of Time Warner in the midwest were unable to see some of the home town teams play due to this dispute. While the battle continued for a whole year, the companies involved came to an agreement before the 2008 season, so customers could remain with with Time Warner instead of having to switch to one of the satellite TV providers such as DISH Network or Direct TV.  An important thing to do when considering providers is to consider all factors, comparing Time Warner cable vs Direct TV.

Out of market sports programming are another thing sports fans should consider. The NFL Sunday Ticket package is exclusive to DirecTV, so if you want this package, you have to switch. Many customers of large companies like Comcast are upset too, not understanding why a package like NFL Sunday Ticket isn’t available to them. Other packages though are more fan friendly, such as the NHL Center Ice and the NBA League Pass, which are available on almost every cable TV and satellite provider. Direct TV seems to have all of the premium sports packages.