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The Logistics of Hooking up: Cable vs. Satellite
Subscription television is largely displacing traditional broadcasting. The wider variety of programming, music and other features have redefined what consumers expect out of their television service and have left standard broadcasters wanting for th
Subscription television is largely displacing traditional broadcasting. The wider variety of programming, music and other features have redefined what consumers expect out of their television service and have left standard broadcasters wanting for the ability to provide such features. Particularly where interactive features are concerned, broadcast television is generally unable to compete. Whichever subscription service is chosen, the ability to hook up to the signal smoothly depends on several factors.
Cable television is available exclusively in those areas encompassed by its hardwired infrastructure. This means that a household must be near the coaxial lines that provide the service. In new subdivisions, it's not uncommon to find that the reach of cable extends to the neighborhood just before one's own, but no further. If the service is available, the difficulty hooking up will depend on the household's "cable readiness".
Because cable is a wired technology, those wires must be extended to and inside of the household. This sometimes means drilling some holes in the walls and, depending on how spread out the televisions are in the household, it may require a fair amount of wiring. This service will incur a charge from the cable company, in most cases, usually hovering around the price of a month's service. The hookup requires a qualified technician's services and should not be attempted by homeowners, both for legal and safety reasons.
Satellite hookup is generally offered free of charge by the providers. As satellite service requires that the homeowner have an antenna mounted, the satellite companies opted to offer this equipment for free in a quest to obtain more subscribers. This arrangement usually applies for established customers who are moving residences, as well. A satellite dish is mounted by technicians. It can be mounted on just about any surface but rooftops are generally preferred. The dish must have a clear view of the southern sky from which the signals propagate. There is no infrastructure limit on satellite service; the service is available most anywhere on Earth as the broadcast technology is located in space.
Either service will require equipment to convert the received signals to a format the television can interpret and to allow for extra features, such as menus, pay per view and view-on-demand type interactive services. Most of the companies provide a version of this converter box free of charge, though there are usually more advanced models available.
DVRdigital video recordertechnology is quickly growing in popularity. These recorders can capture a program in high-definition format and save to a hard drive that doesnt decay in quality when new programs are recorded over old. This technology has become particularly popular with satellite subscribers. Satellite broadcasters provide more programming in high-definition format. The combination of these broadcasts with the technology to capture them in that format means that customers get more use out of their HDTV sets. Cable currently lags behind satellite in the amount of HD programming it provides to its customers.
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