Dish/Direct AND Cable? (1 Viewer)

[Ian R]

I was just wondering if some of you that have a satellite system still keep any sort of cable package as well, or did you do a clean break?

For some strange reason, I'm having trouble commiting to the DBS system. It's very unlike me, I usually buy now and think later.

Thanks,

Ian

 

[Dean Bu]

When I first got DirecTV, about 2 years ago, I kept cable because the local channels weren't available on the dish, and due to the original placement of my sat dish, (partially effected by some trees) I experienced some outages due to bad weather. My signal strength would be weakened in the summer by the trees getting leaves, and then when heavy rain came (I live in the Northeast) the sat would go out. When DirecTV started providing locals, I seriously considered dropping cable, but didn't because DirecTV was only providing ABC,PBS,CBS,NBC and FOX, no UPN, WB, or independents on the locals, and I still had my signal strength issue.

Within the last few months DirecTV has added tons of new locals in each market using the added bandwidth of their spot beam technology, for example, in the New York area we get 17 local channels including all the majors (ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX,WB,UPN) as well as several PBS's from NJ,CT, and NY and several independents. I tweaked the location of my dish, did some pruning, and my signal strength was bumped up to an average of almost 90% in good weather, so I finally decided to literally cut the cord with cable.

Once you get your sat system installed, if you find that your signal strength is 90% or above, then the chance of you having a weather related outage is greatly reduced. You'll need to encounter torential downpours to get knocked out, and even then it will only be for a few minutes at a time. It might happen one, two or three times during the summer, or maybe not at all. If you think about it, that's about the same amount of outages you have on cable anyway.

One last factor is whether in your market there are any channels that are only available on the cable system, and not on the sat. For example, in NYC there is the Metro channel that is owned by Cablevision and is used for over runs of sports. For example, if the Rangers and Knicks are playing at the same time, one is on Metro, and one is on MSG. Metro is not available on sat, MSG is. So you can get blacked out on some sports. This is also true of Comcast Sports Net in Philadelphia, sometimes since Comcast Cable owns and runs that channel, some Philly sports content is blacked out on DirecTV.

Lastly, DirecTV is required by FCC law to provide you with only one set of locals. I see you are from Freehold, NJ, I live in Lawrenceville, NJ. One bummer about DirecTV is that based on your Zip Code you are pre-selected into one major market. You'll be in the New York City market. My cable system provides both NY and Philly locals, yours might do the same, with DirecTV you will get only one set of locals. If you are a big Phily sports fan, then you will have to keep cable to get the Phillies, Flyers, etc. If you are a NY sports fan, then you're the same as me and a DirecTV only setup will be ok most of the time. Good Luck.

 

[RobertSing]

I have DirecTV and the most basic cable package available. My TV doesn't do dual-tuner, so I need another source to do PIP. Also wanted to be able to watch one thing and record another. And one of the local sports team is on the local cable only network.

I love my DirecTV system, but it's not for everybody. I watch a lot of sports that I can't get through cable. That was my main reason for buying. I would think about the cost difference between the two and what type of programming you watch most.

Hope that helps.

 

[Dave Morton]

I got my Dish network a couple years ago and I haven't been happier. The decision to go with dish instead of directv was basically a coin flip. I don't care for pro sports so that was not an issue for me. Dish had the college sports package (although I think directv has that now too) and was a couple of bucks cheaper at the time. I was glad to get rid of at&t cable. I'd never go back, not for anything.