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So, let’s assume for whatever the reason, you are looking for a dish or cable provider. Here are some things you would want to consider when choosing a provider.

1. How much are you willing to spend on premium TV services such as cable/dish? This questions is crucial because regardless of how many channels you can get and how many bells and whistles like HD and simultaneous recording, if a price is out of your range, it’s out of your range, and you should not even consider it. Packages start at around $20 a month for basic cable/dish channels (other than the local channels), and goes up to well over $100 a month when you start to add multiple premium channels like HBO and Showtime, not to mention various special interest or pay per view programming.

A good free option to quality TV is to simply get a good antenna and get digital TV over the air. Now if your TV does not have a digital tuner (ATSC ) built in, all you need is to buy a digital to analog converter box for about $30-$50 at your local electronics store, and you are good to go. You’ll be surprised how clear the shows can be, especially if you are watching your shows broadcasted in HD (high definition), through one of the newer big screen LCD/Plasma TVs!

2. Are there specific shows you’d like to watch from premium networks like HBO? If so, then you should be prepared to shell out the extra $15 or so extra per month for each additional premium network.

3. Do you care for local channels? If you have a need to watch local stations in 100% clarity without having to worry about reception issues associated with traditional over-the-air TV, then prepared to shell out an extra $10-$15 a month just for that in order to get it from your dish/cable provider. However, if you are able to get decent digital reception straight to your TV, then you can opt out of this. You’ll just have to switch from Cable/Dish input to TV when you want to watch regular TV/Local stations.

4. What features are absolute musts for you and what are options that you would rather not pay extra for? For example,  not everyone needs multi-room capability, especially if you live in a studio or one bedroom apartment. So if a particularly cheaper package does not come with free multi-room installation, don’t be tempted to go with more expensive packages that comes with free installations up to four rooms! Other features like

5. Dish versus cable – In a nutshell, most people can go with either when it comes to programming, as both carry similar programming, both in standard as well as HD. Cable is good in that there are usually no annual contracts where as dish providers normally require a 1-2 year contract (they spend more on equipment/labor upfront and need the commitment from you in order to get that money back and make some profit). For that reason, dish services tend to be cheaper per month, which is a plus. Also, you are required to connect most dish systems to a phone line in order for it to order any programming. While this is not a huge problem for most people, for those who are cell-phone only, this can be an extra cost (or they’ll charge you an extra $5 a month or so for not having a phone line connected). Some also claim that cable is more reliable because dish TV which uses satellites can lose signal from time to time due to weather changes. Dish providers call this a myth so be sure to read forums and ask around to see if your friends or family have any issues with their dish receptions from time to time.

Well, that’s enough for this post. I know it’s a bit basic, but a more thorough comparison between dish and cable will be coming up soon in another post.