How fortunate are we to live in an age like this?

If you were to ask your grandparents what television was like in their day they would surely spin you some yarn about the trials and tribulations of working the TV. How televisions only displayed in standard definition with mono speaker output or how the original broadcast format was in black and white before color was ever a possibility, or maybe you would be interested to know that it was several decades before the remote control was invented to help people surf channels!

The truth is that television has come a very long way since its inception and whether we like to admit it or not, television plays a very big role in our lives. We get our news and sports and entertainment from this device and, with satellite television becoming an industry standard we are getting more and more control over how and when we watch the things that matter to us most.

How many channels can you get with satellite? Couple hundred? There was a time, believe it or not, when there were as many channels as you have fingers and toes.

Every year, satellite television providers roll out new features and television just keeps on getting better.

Satellite television is usually cheaper than cable television because it demands less infrastructure than cable television. It is also more portable, with most satellite companies you only need to let them know that you are moving and take your box with you and they will install a new dish for you.

Other features with satellite television over cable are music channels, many sports channels and better High Definition quality. Instead of having to set your VCR to record shows you might miss, with satellite companies you can get DVR that in some cases will automatically record shows at the right time if it knows what show you are interested in and you can record 2 shows at the same time. Also with a DVR is it digitally recorded so you do not have to mess with VCR tapes and worry about rewinding or making sure you have enough tape. You can pull up on the screen what you have taped and what you have scheduled to record.More info here: Cable, satellite television providers battle over DVRs

The main benefit of satellite television versus cable is the features you get for the same, or less, price. Satellite typically offers several tiers of channels, but even the lowest tier has more channels than cable. It also has satellite radio that automatically comes with most packages versus cable where you generally have to pay extra for it. Furthermore, the selection in satellite radio is a lot better. Satellite television also has a lot of extra sports and international channels that you can buy a la carte, whereas cable rarely has these available and you typically have to buy the package they come with. The major satellite providers also offer channels that aren’t available on cable at all, being specific to the individual satellite provider. Despite what is often thought, satellite television offers a much clearer picture than cable and they offer that picture 99.96 of the time. While weather does sometimes affect signal, it happens less than what is commonly thought. The other thing with satellite is that customer service is a lot better. The techs can generally fix any problems over the phone without having to come out. No more waiting all day for the cable guy!More info here: You Can Let Go Now, Sirius XM

In 1965, Intelstat 1 (the “Early Bird”) became the first commercial communications satellite. It provided more direct contact between Europe and North America than the Telstar did, and it was also used to help the Apollo astronauts in 1969. In 1967, the EB and several other satellites were used to put on the special “Our World,” in which the Beatles made appearance.

With cable television, the amount you pay each month is basically to rent the box and remote. With satellite television in most cases you will get fee installation and equipment and the fee you pay each month is a subscription fee for the service.Check out this link here. You also get HD, High Definition free, with cable you pay more for HD.

With satellite television the digital quality is better than cable so the HD quality is clearer with satellite than with cable.

Since satellite television is provided by a satellite dish that is secured to your home, many people can get satellite television service in rural areas where there may not be cable television service. With cable television the cables need to be buried underground. It costs companies money to do this so they can only run the service so far out of the towns. With satellite television they can get service anywhere they can get satellite reception.