1. You get more channels you want with satellite than with cable.
2. Satellite TV is less expensive than cable.
3. All of your local channels are now available via satellite.
4. The 500-channel universe is finally available and it’s on satellite.
5. Everybody loves satellite.
6. I can install this dish myself. How hard can it possibly be?
7. Cable is a monopoly.
8. Satellite is a one-stop shop for entertainment and communications services.
9. This dish has to be the most high-tech way to get TV.
10. Satellite beats cable on reliability and picture.
     

You get more of the channels you want with satellite than with cable.
You want your MTV… and AMC… and Discovery… and HBO… and your favorite sports… With both digital cable and satellite, you can receive virtually all of the channels you want. In fact, the choices available on both platforms are very similar; in some cases, cable has the advantage. Cox Digital Cable® provides access to up to 260 channels of video and music programming – virtually the same number available via DirecTV or Dish Network .

Satellite companies often lure subscribers by boasting of hundreds more channels than cable, which is untrue when compared to digital cable. In addition, their number of channel claims do not accurately reflect the programming that is actually available to any individual household. Satellite providers sometimes total their offerings nationwide to include the scores of local broadcast affiliates that, by law, can be purchased only in the specific markets served by those channels. So don’t be misled – you cannot legally access all of the channels they typically boast about, regardless of what you’ve heard.

In most cases, Cox Digital Cable offers more premium movie channels such as HBO, Showtime and Cinemax than satellite TV. For example, Cox Digital Cable delivers an average of eight channels of HBO, compared to seven on DirecTV. Further, Cox Digital Cable, like satellite services, offers a world of choice in sports programming, such as access to seven professional and college sports packages including NBA League Pass, ESPN Game Plan, ESPN Full Court, NHL Center Ice and MLB Extra Innings. In addition, Cox Digital Cable offers a Major League Soccer package and an exciting NASCAR package called NASCAR in Car that is not available on satellite TV. In fact, in areas served by Cox, more consumers choose Cox Digital Cable over satellite TV.

Satellite TV is less expensive than cable.
It's ironic that satellite companies try to paint the picture that their service is less expensive than cable when in actuality it’s not. In fact, satellite providers have consistently raised prices every year for the past three years! And some of the most popular packages have increased almost 20% - that’s about three times the rate of inflation!¹ Satellite companies point fingers at others about high prices... when they are the ones dishing them out- that's ironic.

For the most accurate price comparison between cable and satellite, you must take into account that the average U.S. household subscribing to a multi-channel video service has nearly three TV sets hooked up. At most common levels of service, Cox customers pay less than DirecTV or Dish Network subscribers for comparable services.

The comparisons made by satellite companies often quote just the monthly cost of service on only one TV set. These comparisons fail to address additional equipment costs incurred by satellite subscribers that average cable customers don’t have to pay. These can include:

Additional receivers for multiple TV sets. Cox standard service that features the most popular cable networks like ESPN, Disney, TNT, Lifetime and Discovery works on every TV in your home, without additional receivers required, in most cases. With satellite, additional television outlets require purchasing additional receivers, which can cost $100 - $200 apiece, plus up to an additional $5 fee per month. Considering that the average household has nearly three TV sets, satellite subscribers can be hit with a huge bill just to view programming on more than one set.

More dishes. In some markets, due to the positioning of satellites in space, some subscribers are forced to install two satellite dishes or a larger dish to receive an effective signal for all of the programming carried by the satellite provider.

Repair costs. Repair service typically costs extra for satellite subscribers. There’s also the added hassle of figuring out who to call to come fix your satellite service. For Cox customers, however, most repairs are included with your service, assistance is one call away and service is provided by professional technicians located right in your community.

All of your local channels are now available via satellite.
While satellite companies are delivering local broadcast channels in some markets, the coverage is primarily limited to the major networks. (The PBS offering on satellite is a national feed of the network, not the highly localized, issue-based content that many viewers enjoy from their local PBS affiliates.) Further, satellite companies charge extra for local channels; with Cox and other cable providers, local channels are included as part of standard basic service.

Finally, while satellite companies tout sports packages as a powerful asset, the truth is that sports fans typically care most about their local sports teams and events. Many local-team games are carried on independent broadcast stations (not always available via satellite services), or on cable-exclusive channels. So, as a fan of your city’s professional baseball, basketball or hockey team, you might not be able to view all of the team’s games if you rely exclusively on satellite service. For example, in San Diego, Cox Channel 4 San Diego telecasts 120 Padres games a year that only cable customers can access.

The 500-channel universe is finally available and it’s on satellite.
While satellite companies may want you to believe this statement, no satellite or cable customer in the United States can access that many channels. When satellite companies report this figure, they are referring to the total of all the channels they offer in all markets – counting each local channel on top of what is available nationally. This gross misrepresentation inflates, by more than half, the number of channels satellite companies legally can deliver to their subscribers.

The truth is, satellite and digital cable provide roughly the same amount of programming, depending on the market.

Everybody loves satellite.
The percentage of customers who disconnect their service each month is higher in DBS households than the comparable number for Cox cable households. These losses are especially telling considering that when satellite subscribers move, they generally can take their satellite dishes and service with them.

This trend would suggest that some subscribers aren’t as enamored with their service as the satellite hoopla suggests. Many returning Cox customers say they ditched their dishes because of DBS hidden charges as well as the availability of Cox Digital Cable. They cite the fact that digital cable offers virtually the same number of channels at a comparable price, with the added benefit of receiving all local channels and hooking up standard cable service on additional TV sets at no extra charge.

In addition, Cox customers who purchase multiple services, including Cox Digital Telephone and Cox High Speed Internet, can save even more money each month.

I can install this dish myself. How hard can it possibly be?
Pretty darn difficult, actually. Installation of satellite dishes can be tricky, time consuming and frustrating. For instance, do you know how to bolt a dish to your roof? And do you know where your transponder is? A satellite dish must point to precise area of space to receive its signal, which limits the number of places that dishes can be installed and can lead to conspicuous dishes in your yard, or on your roof or deck. Once you locate that one spot for the best reception – which must face southwest and not have any trees, buildings or other items in its way – the real fun begins. You have to run wires through your home to the TV set, which must be within several feet of a phone outlet for the satellite receiver.

Cable, on the other hand, is installed and serviced by professionally trained personnel based in your community. You don’t have to wield a wrench, climb a ladder, fuss with a drill, or search fruitlessly for that darn transponder. Further, repair service generally doesn’t cost extra with cable, as it does with satellite service, and is backed by an on-time service guarantee.

Cable is a monopoly.
If this statement were true, satellite TV service wouldn’t exist. Satellite companies have had success signing up their share of subscribers, proving there is no monopoly in the multi-channel TV market. In fact, consumers have several choices: cable, national satellite services, and, depending upon the market, other multi-channel video offerings, including those from local telephone providers and other communications companies.

It is also important to note that more than one in five households choose to receive their TV signals over the air, rather than subscribe to a multi-channel TV provider. Further, competition has spurred the development of many new channels, services, technologies and other innovations that would not exist if cable companies actually operated like monopolies and were, therefore, resistant to enhancing their services.

Satellite is a one-stop shop for entertainment and communications services.
This statement, too, is untrue. For the most part, satellite technology is limited to delivering one-way video services and when they do offer additional services, they must rely on an additional company to deliver it to your home. However, Cox and other cable companies—with their digital, broadband networks—are transforming into true one-stop shops for communications and entertainment services. Cox’s advanced networks can deliver not only television programming, but also high-speed Internet access and phone service (local and long-distance) in many markets, with the additional capacity for video on demand, home networking, digital video recorders and other powerful future offerings.

The simplicity and convenience of selecting a variety of communications and entertainment services from one provider gives the advantage to Cox for in-home technology. Cox Communications is the true “one-stop-shop” for entertainment and communications services.

This dish has to be the most high-tech way to get TV.
Wrong again. Experts including technologists, industry analysts and consumers have heralded broadband—the infrastructure deployed by cable companies—as the highest-capacity and most robust delivery network for advanced communications services. This technological sophistication is why many traditional cable operators like Cox Communications are successfully transforming their businesses into full-service advanced communications companies, and why major technology companies like Microsoft, AOL, Intel and Dell are aligning with cable operators to deliver communications and entertainment services. This technology means you get the convenience, efficiency and value of receiving all of your communications services from one company – a company located right in your community, with local service and local commitment.

Not only does cable’s broadband technology enable the transmission of video programming, high-speed Internet and telephone signals today, it has the ability to enable powerful, two-way interactive video services. In offering video services, satellite companies, on the other hand, can only communicate one-way on their networks. To offer any sort of interactive services, they must rely upon a third-party provider, the local telephone company, since every satellite receiver in the home must be hooked up to an active telephone outlet.

Satellite beats cable on reliability and picture.
Not according to many satellite subscribers, whose TV picture is subject to interference from rain, snow, wind, or when trees grow to obscure the view of the satellite and prevent the signal from reaching their TVs. And many satellite subscribers don’t know who to call when there’s a service problem: The store where they bought the dish? The phone number they had to call to activate their service? The local independent contractor who installed the dish?

Cable companies like Cox Communications, however, have invested heavily in their digital, fiber-optic network and broadband technology, which means reliability. And that reliability is backed by service technicians that are a single call away and located in your neighborhood.

So, while images are beamed to earth from space, satellite is definitely not “manna from heaven.” And consumers need to direct their focus away from the clever marketing of the satellite companies. With a clear picture of the true landscape, you can see that digital cable is a sharper choice.

Information current as of January 2008. The service features presented here are representative of the majority of Cox operations. Some features may vary slightly by market.

¹Based on "Dish Top 120" and "DirecTV Total Choice Plus w/ Locals" prices in effect 2003-2005.