Direc TV vs. Cable TV Question

[Red_Bull_Ed]

I am a cable TV subscriber and have a few questions about Direc TV and Dish Network. I like cable because it offers more local channels and in many areas like central New Jersey for example where cable carries both New York City and Philadelphia broadcast channels.
Direc TV now has a page on it's website about local channels and neighboring local channels that states "DIRECTV now offers Neighboring Local Channels (also known as Significantly Viewed Channels) to many areas of the country."

So my question to those of you with the service in Mercer or Ocean Counties is, do you get both New York and Philadelphia locals with Direc TV / Dish as you do on cable TV in those areas. Also areas such as Monroe County in the Poconos (ScrantonDMA) who get NY / Philly / Scranton on cable, what is offered on the dishes? And south Jersey folks in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland Counties do they offer WMGM NBC 40 from Atlantic City on Direc TV / Dish or only Philly stations?

Another DMA question WMGM NBC 40 Atlantic City has many over-the-air viewers in Ocean County (mainly southern Ocean County) and is located less than 15 miles from the southern county line. Ocean County (NY DMA) gets all the New York stations some 70 miles away and Philadelphia stations 40-50 miles away but not a Jersey Shore TV station. WMCN DT-53 Atlantic City got a special FCC waver to be carried on Ocean County Cable. Why can't WMGM been seen on cable, when it can be recieved over-the-air by attenna in Tuckerton, Manahawkin, on Long Beach Island, ect.

Thanks in advance for all the responces.

 

[Horns]

I'll just add this...I'm a cable subscriber too. I've heard here in Florida, the satellite companies have lost considerable buisness over the last two hurricane seasons due to rain fade problems. When a hurricane is threatening, you sure don't want your TV to go out! We have underground utilities and the cable is fiber now, so we haven't lost cable service in years. I've been told the satellite companies have made improvements and the rain fade isn't as bad as it used to be. But, last weekend I was staying in a new hotel near Miami, the hotel used a satellite to get their in-room TV signals. There were thunderstorms around, but it wasn't even raining at the hotel and we lost most of the satellite channels for about an hour! After that experience, I understood why so many here in Florida have given up on satellite TV.

 

[neo11]

Rain fade is a big problem and was evident with all the storms we've had here in NYC over the past week. It's the big drawback to satellite tv. I actually feel that Satellite isn't as good a value as it used to be, with cable now offering DTV and many more on-demand services, a more reliable signal (no rain fade), and many nice offers to new subscribers which the satellite broadcasters don't seem to have. I have the America's Top 60 package at home and I can't even see any of the local sports networks, and never saw YES even when I had the America's 120 package, don't have Bloomberg TV, don't have some of the over-the-air stations, don't even have basic cable staples like AMC or FX. There's plenty of home shopping networks and jesuscasters, however, and the oh-so-exciting NASA TV.

Good news though, the Dish Network broadcast package did recently add WFME-TV 66 to its lineup!

So why do I keep Dish, you ask? At this point, just for one of its ethnic packages, which is one thing that they offer which cable does not. If that went, or if cable offered me something similar, I'd cancel my subscription.

 

[papaul1967]

I am a cable TV subscriber and have a few questions about Direc TV and Dish Network. I like cable because it offers more local channels and in many areas like central New Jersey for example where cable carries both New York City and Philadelphia broadcast channels.
Direc TV now has a page on it's website about local channels and neighboring local channels that states "DIRECTV now offers Neighboring Local Channels (also known as Significantly Viewed Channels) to many areas of the country."

So my question to those of you with the service in Mercer or Ocean Counties is, do you get both New York and Philadelphia locals with Direc TV / Dish as you do on cable TV in those areas. Also areas such as Monroe County in the Poconos (ScrantonDMA) who get NY / Philly / Scranton on cable, what is offered on the dishes? And south Jersey folks in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland Counties do they offer WMGM NBC 40 from Atlantic City on Direc TV / Dish or only Philly stations?

Another DMA question WMGM NBC 40 Atlantic City has many over-the-air viewers in Ocean County (mainly southern Ocean County) and is located less than 15 miles from the southern county line. Ocean County (NY DMA) gets all the New York stations some 70 miles away and Philadelphia stations 40-50 miles away but not a Jersey Shore TV station. WMCN DT-53 Atlantic City got a special FCC waver to be carried on Ocean County Cable. Why can't WMGM been seen on cable, when it can be recieved over-the-air by attenna in Tuckerton, Manahawkin, on Long Beach Island, ect.

This is good question dishtv and direct tv have a line set in stone in central nj. that follows the county boundries of the actually nyc, philly market boundry; you get ONE market package only depending on what county you live in. mercer is philadephia; dish will grants waivers to get the new york channels 2, 4, and 7. I know this because i live 1000 feet from hunterdon county, nj (nyc) since i live in bucks county, pa. they only provide philadelphia market channels i did get waivers to receive WCBS and WNBC but WPVI refused to grant a waiver so i could receive WABC because their market is protected. just crazy because both are network owned (Corporate Censorship) luckly i can receive all digital channels from both cities via my outside antenna. the local cable company here carries all philly and major nyc channels but excluding 2,7 and 13.
Monroe County direct tvand dish have the scranton-wilkes barrel locals only. Blue Ridge Cable that serves most of Monroe count you get all Scranton-Wilkes-Barrie, Philly and New York Channels as locals.
WMGM tv is very odd actually the transmitter is near avalon not atantic city comcast has this channel only in atlantic and cap may counties even though the signal goes further and reaches to delaware where it used to be carried on comcast in sussex county, de.. just and oddball.

 

[pabsungenis]

WMGM tv is very odd actually the transmitter is near avalon not atantic city comcast has this channel only in atlantic and cap may counties even though the signal goes further and reaches to delaware where it used to be carried on comcast in sussex county, de.. just and oddball.

The problem with WMGM is that its signal doesn't reach the DirecTV and Dish distribution points, and for years the owner (Howard Green) didn't want to pay to run fiber from the studios in Linwood to the satellite companies. Whether Access.1 will eventually break down and do it now is anyone's guess. In the meantime, DirecTV does have spot-beam space reserved and program data included for WMGM (there is a channel PH40 that is locked in the lineup) just in case they ever do it.

Another oddity with DirecTV is how they handle the NJN channels. To save bandwidth, they actually only send WNJS-23 over the bird, and alias the other channel numbers to it for 52, 50, and 58. You can be watching WNJN or WNJT, but when the legal ID comes down, it's always "WNJS, Camden."

 

[Markxxx]

Interesting point you brought up with Rain Fade. I live in Chicago, when I had cable, by Prime, then TCI, then AT&T, same cable different owners, I never had rain issues. Then when Comcast bought out AT&T instantly I would get rain fade. As if they were using a dish somehow to get channels. They were the locals and about half the cable channels. Most of the digital tier on Comcast went out to when we got more than a little rain, so I am not sure the rain fade is just limited to satellite tv

 

[ansky212]

I have had satellite for about a year and a half and have not found rain fade to be a major issue. It is usually only a problem during severe thunderstorms or torrential rain. A typical rainy day does not cause any problems. Even the blizzard we had last winter did not cause any outage. I have found Directv to be significantly cheaper than cable. My Directv package is about $25-30/month cheaper than equivalent services offered by Comcast in my area.

 

[fred flintstone]

I've had satellite (DirecTV) since it was introduced more than 10 years ago.
Yes, there is rain fade. It generally lasts A FEW MINUTES - when the bright red on the Weather Channel is over my house. It takes extremely heavy rain/cloud cover to block the signal. It happens maybe three or four times a year.
In contrast, when I had cable, a heavy storm would knock out services FOR DAYS.

The picture on satellite TV is far superior to analog cable.

And then there's the issue of the quality of service: The best thing about DirecTV is that they are not Comcast. They answer the phone. They keep appointments. Their people are civil. All things being about equal, I'd much rather give DirecTV my money than Comcast. But things are not equal: DirecTV offers more for your dollar than cable. I keep checking occasionally and DirecTV still comes out ahead (even with all the special offers from cable and dish to entice new customers).

Plus - big Plus - DirecTV includes XM's music channels (Dish offers Sirius). Sound quality is excellent and XM's music is a big improvement over Music Choice (on most cable systems).

DirecTV's website provides a list of out-of-market channels available in border areas.

 

[Obtuse1]

Satellite can be a good value...but if you also want high speed internet (not DSL), cable may be your best bet. Satellite + separate broadband internet is usually pricier than getting both TV and internet from your cable provider (you can save some more by going with a broadband-based phone service as well....) Also, if you like On-Demand video, digital cable offers far more than DBS.

As for reliability, in 2004's hurricane season I was without power for a week, but I still had cable (plugged into a battery op TV, of course....). Haven't had a cable outage in ages. But as they say, your results may vary....

Between DirecTV and Dish, I would opt for Dish (better customer service, generally better pricing), unless you really must have NFL Direct Ticket.....

 

[MarcB]

And as for which one to get Directv or Dish Network..... If you like The NY Yankees you gotta get Directv becuse they carry The Yes Network. Otherwise with Dish Network you'll only get the Friday night games on WWOR and the occasionaly Satuday game on WNYW and the rare Sunday Night game on ESPN.

 

[fred flintstone]

Satellite can be a good value...but if you also want high speed internet (not DSL), cable may be your best bet.

Why not DSL? It is high speed (different pricing levels available) at a lower price (starting at $15/mo).

DirecTV and Verizon DSL still offers the best bang for the buck.

Cable Internet is subject to degradation of bandwidth during peak usage hours and everybody on your network may have access to your system. Not to mention cable goes out, the Internet goes out. And cable in New York is still very subject to disruption.

 

[neo11]

I don't know about that. I've had Roadrunner cable internet from Time Warner since September, 2001, and I'm a pretty heavy user as are other members of my family. I can recall a grand total of one instance of downtime in the past five years, lasting maybe 30 minutes. I've used the internet late late nights, early mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends, you name it...the service has been nothing but solid.

I've also used Optimum Online out on Long Island when living out there for school, which I feel is worse than Roadrunner, however I've found downtime to be rare on that service as well, and it seems to be the same case for friends of mine who use both services.

I've used RR and OO in two locations and two different neighborhoods/towns each too as an added point of reference.

 

[chuckydoll]

Solving the problem for Red Bull Ed

DirecTV and DISH go by DMA based on county and/or zip code.

Ocean, Monmouth, Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon counties on north is in the New York DMA. Mercer and Burlington counties on south is in the Philadelphia DMA. One unique situation is zip code 08540, which is Princeton Twp. (Mercer) plus parts of Franklin Twp. (Somerset) and Montgomery Twp. (Somerset); if you're in 08540 you have NYC and Phila. on cable [Patriot Media] but Phila. only on satellite.

Monroe County is in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre DMA. Cable [Blue Ridge] carries NYC, Phila. and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre OTA stations plus WFMZ and WLVT from Allentown. Satellite is Scranton/Wilkes-Barre only.

Atlantic and Cape May counties are more tricky. WMGM-40 is on cable on Cape May County and most of Atlantic County; it's not on cable [Comcast] in Hammonton (northwest part of Atlantic County). As a previous poster said, WMGM-40 doesn't provide its signal to the DirecTV/DISH uplink.