How Cable TV and Satellite Work
Sunday, December 7th, 2008
The television has been the most used entertainment device in almost all homes in the United States ever since it was invented. It is still the top media source in the home, though the home computer is gaining ground, and it looks like it will stay that way for a long time to come. It has bypassed both newspapers and radio media in terms of use and profitability. But pay television relies on a service provider and the two types from which we can choose from are satellite TV or cable television.
Cable TV is transmitted through optical fiber cables and coaxial cables. The big advantage of cable TV is that it the quality of its broadcast is not degraded in any way by mountains, trees or any other geographical limitations. The bad part of things from the cable company point of view is that it is very expensive to continually expand and maintain the cabling needed to deliver the signals. Today cable TV is offered by more companies compared to satellite broadcasting. Well known companies in this area are Comcast, Charter cable, Mediacom, Time Warner, and Cox cable. The competition to be the biggest and best cable company will ensure you that you will get your money’s worth.
Satellite television on the other hand is offered by just two companies in the United States. First is Dish Network and the other is DirecTV. These companies rely on the receivers given to their subscribers and they use communication satellites in order to broadcast their programming. They offer more stations compared to Comcast basic cable and usually cost a little bit less than cable. However, the capital expense involved here are the satellites that must be launched into space.
The good news for any customer is that there are different choices in the pay television marketplace. Whether the preference be based on programming, prices, packages or customer service; the consumer will be able to find a suitable provider for him or her.
