Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
In today’s world folks are looking to maximize their entertainment dollar. Increasing fuel prices, a slowing economy, and high food prices are putting the squeeze on Americans. Luckily, one of the great values in entertainment is your cable or satellite TV service.
If you stop and think about it, anyone can get a bundle including over 100 channels including commercial-free movie channels like HBO and Starz for about $75 dollars a month. That is less than you usually spend for dinner and a first run movie. The latest technology in the pay TV market is HD, or high definition service. What should you evaluate when hooking up that new Hi-def TV you just purchased?
Don’t forget that your standard cable television or satellite TV service is not in hi-def. You must specifically buy a package that features this type of programming. So where do smart shoppers start?
Make a call to your current provider and find out exactly what they offer as far as HD service. Satellite television companies DISH Network and Direct TV have been leading the pack as far as providing the most high definition when you look at channel counts. Cable television providers like Comcast also have some great offerings, including HD on-demand. Find out exactly how much upgrading to HD will be, and if you need additional equipment.
If what they are offering is not what you need, do a little comparison shopping. The latest deals include an all hi-def package from DISH Network called TurboHD. DirecTV sells HD service for only $9.99 a month. Prices vary with cable television companies across America, so you will have to call your cable company to see what the price is for HD service.
Another consideration is that most telephone companies now provide television service. AT&T now offers their U-verse service in many areas along with telephone and high speed internet service. Verizon is also expanding their network, offering their fiber to the home service FiOS in limited neighborhoods. It is advisable that you compare services side-by-side, such as U-verse vs Direct TV. These developments are a benefit to the consumer, as more competition encourages low costs in the end.
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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
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 expanded coverage with the Mega March Madness package on Direct TV.
The motto today is “Content is King” and as the saying goes the networks of course want to bring as much content as possible to the customer so they can make more money on advertising. Quite a few new all-sports channels have popped up over the past few years. Included among these are Altitude Sports, which carries NBA Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche games, as well as the Big 10 network and the mtn, the network of the Mountain West conference.
Sure these channels are great for folks in certain regions of the country, but disagreements between the providers of content and cable networks that deliver the content have brought trouble at times to the customer. For example, the Big Ten Network began broadcasting in 2007, but the network was unable to strike a deal with big cable provider Time Warner. Subscribers of Time Warner in Indiana were unable to watch some of the home town teams play because of the carraige dispute. While the battle lasted a whole year, the companies involved came to an agreement before the 2008 season, so subscribers could remain with with Time Warner rather than having to switch over to one of the satellite television companies like DISH Network or DirecTV. An important thing to do when considering providers is to consider all factors, comparing DIRECTV against Time Warner.
Out of market sports packages are another consideration for the customer. Some Dish Network customers have switched providers because the NFL Sunday ticket is exlusively with DirecTV. This has upset some pay television subscribers, who do not understand why a package Sunday Ticket isn’t available to every provider, especially a bicompany like Time Warner. Alternative packages though are more fan friendly, like the National Hockey League 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 sports programming like the NFL Sunday Ticket package.
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Sunday, June 7th, 2009
Satellite TV provider DISH Network just released fresh programming packages called TurboHD. These new programming packages are 100% hi definition, removing of the standard definition networks. So is this new satellite TV the best choice for your family?
It all depends on what your looking for from your cable or satellite television company. Some folks want every single channel that is available. They don’t care if 10 of them are jewelry shopping channels, or that five of the channels are public access. They just want all of the channels.
On the other hand, many have become tired of trying to wade through all of the lower tier channels on the television dial, looking for something worthwhile to watch. For consumers who have recently purchased a new HDTV, TurboHD by DISH Network might be a good solution for you.
There are three different choices with Turbo HD from DISH Network, the Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. All of these packages are composed of hi-def channels only. Packages start at around $24.99 per month for the Bronze HD package. That programming package doesn’t include your local networks like CBS and ABC, which costs five bucks more per month.
DISH Network also offers the Platinum level, which is an add-on service to the Gold, Silver, and Bronze packages. The Platinum level is ten bucks a month, and includes seven more hi def channels such as NBA TV and NHL Network.
One point of contention with some current DISH Network customers is they have not been allowed to switch over to the TurboHD packages. Currently only new customers to DISH Network have been allowed to get the TurboHD bundles. Current customers can get DISH TurboHD, but only as an add-on to the SD package.
Another item to consider is in how DISH Network is numbering the networks contained in the bundles. Take for example the Bronze Turbo HD setup which includes 44 channels, of which 24 are network channels, six are pay-per-view, and 14 are video-on-demand channels. Some would consider that plenty but others are used to having quite a bit more content to choose from. A final consideration, none of the TurboHD levels include premium movie channels like HBO or Showtime, so don’t be surprised when you have to pay more for commercial free channels like that. For more detail on these packages, check out the DISH Network Turbo HD review.
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Sunday, May 31st, 2009
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 television providers give us all the shows we want or sometimes give more than we 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. It may be Time Warner cable, Cox, Comcast cable, 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 the choice of satellite television 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 Direct TV specials out there designed to get you set up at a very low cost, or no charge at all.
Whatever your taste may be, there are a lot of different choices you can choose from to satisfy your every day television needs. One of the smart things to do before selecting a pay TV provider is to compare services. A great low-cost option out there currently is the Direct TV Choice. 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 decide whether you want cable or satellite TV. 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 television choices.
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