KCRG (Cedar Rapids) denied NFL Network for Insight Bowl

[IATrainMaster101]

I had DTV for 2 years and it was much better than Mediacom. Still lost signal breifly during bad storms. Signed up for Dish last june and have had no problems. The reception you will get from the two of them will depend on where you mount the satelite and which direction you have the clearest view. Dish if I am not mistaken faces the south west sky and DTV the south east. If you are shoping dish companies irecomend you have someone come out and take a reading around your house and advise you of placment locations for the dish and which service will give you the most reliable signal based on your location.

 

[deanvogs]

I don't understand why satellite is supposedly the end all be all for television, I live in an apartment on the second floor, I don't have anywhere to put a dish if I got the service and even then it has to point south not be obstructed etc. etc. I have a friend that has DirecTV and every time i've attempted to watch tv at his house during a storm or windy day the signal has either gone completely out or isn't as good as normal. I understand that you get HD and all this stuff but I can't believe that its like having Blu-Ray over DVD, obviously Blu-Ray will replace DVD in the future just as DVD replaced VHS. Satellite has been around for 10+ years and it has yet to push out cable for the exact reasons i've stated above. Although the recent issues with Mediacom and Sinclair made me take a look at satellite its not enough to make me want to deal with the hassle of having a dish and everything that comes with it. JMO.

Just like anything in life you can get a bad installer, or have a bad situation with billing etc.

I believe you can rent some 1080P movies, like a Blu-Ray, but it does have the capability to do that with TV when the shows are not filmed in 1080P themselves.

Listen I get it, to some TV isn't that big of deal if its all digital, or in HD etc. I'm not one of those, I am an HD snob, and if you are like me you will get the same answer from everyone like me, and that is satellite KILLS cable, and it isn't even close. Like comparing Alabama/Texas football this year to say Minnesota/Illinois!

 

[SenatorReturns]

Let me ask you this Dish people....

If I want Hi-Def, Local Channels, as well as all the regular Dish channels how many dishes do I need to make this happen?

Last I knew, I needed a Dish for every one of those scenarios pointing to a different satellite.

 

[NewMexHawk]

I have had DirecTV for 16 years and have never looked back. can't imagine anything else.

 

[deanvogs]

Let me ask you this Dish people....

If I want Hi-Def, Local Channels, as well as all the regular Dish channels how many dishes do I need to make this happen?

Last I knew, I needed a Dish for every one of those scenarios pointing to a different satellite.

Short answer: For DishNetwork I need two dishes for this. You could just have one dish, if you use an antenna to pull in local HD, or if you are ok with regular def locals. But if you want the satellite local HD, you need two.

Long answer: I have both (extra dish, plus antenna) With my setup I can actually watch one HD program, and then record over my antenna in HD, and also record a separate HD program (3 shows, watch one record 2). Why I have all that, don't ask me as I only watch about 6 shows anyway, as I watch mostly movies or sports.

 

[remohawk]

Just like anything in life you can get a bad installer, or have a bad situation with billing etc.

I believe you can rent some 1080P movies, like a Blu-Ray, but it does have the capability to do that with TV when the shows are not filmed in 1080P themselves.

Listen I get it, to some TV isn't that big of deal if its all digital, or in HD etc. I'm not one of those, I am an HD snob, and if you are like me you will get the same answer from everyone like me, and that is satellite KILLS cable, and it isn't even close. Like comparing Alabama/Texas football this year to say Minnesota/Illinois!

Now I will say this every time I go to Best Buy or one of those places and watch one of those new LED TV's or any other high quality HD TV, I am in awe of the picture, it's absolutely stunning, much much better than what i have. If I had one of those and I knew for sure that the picture would be better than cable I would have to find some way of getting a satellite dish set up watching football or any other fast paced TV would be that much better.

 

[JLoss]

Mediacom absolutely sucks when it is going through this issue (channel debates) but I will stay with them for the following reasons:

1.) WAY CHEAPER!!!! I pay $65 for cable, HD Box, HBO/starz, internet. The discount comes from bundling packages.

2.) Sat DOES get scetchy if the wind blows the wrong way. Snow, rain, lightning all affect the picture and it always seems to happen at the worst times.

3.) HD Channels. Granted Direct and Dish do hold the advantage here but the high def channels I get thru mediacom are the ones that I watch anyway. I have had dish and direct and I didnt watch the game show channel in high def that often.

At the end of the day, picture quality is the same, you can run cable to 40 tvs if you want (and dont need a box), and you can ALWAYS negotitate with Mediacom to get a cheap deal.

And no, I do not work for mediacom.

 

[cockyhawkfan]

Short answer: For DishNetwork I need two dishes for this. You could just have one dish, if you use an antenna to pull in local HD, or if you are ok with regular def locals. But if you want the satellite local HD, you need two.

Long answer: I have both (extra dish, plus antenna) With my setup I can actually watch one HD program, and then record over my antenna in HD, and also record a separate HD program (3 shows, watch one record 2). Why I have all that, don't ask me as I only watch about 6 shows anyway, as I watch mostly movies or sports.

I have DishNetwork and only have one dish. I get HD locals and DN programming.

 

[jmarkhawk]

who cares? It's the clowns!

 

[bws258]

Or, instead of paying for directv, you could get dish network and save $10 a month...

I have had DirecTV for 2 years and I will be making the switch to Dish soon!

DirecTV's picture & reception are great, but their customer service is horrible (though I doubt Dish is much better, even a little better would be great) and DirecTV's DVR sucks. I hear that Dish's DVR is great, although I know TiVo has beaten them up in court about supposed patent or copyright violations. It must be good if it's worth all of the legal fighting!

 

[HawkFantastic]

I've had DTV for 2 years. I have had brief (< 5 min) outages during severe storms, but those are rare and far between. I had more problems with MC outages. Those would happen for no reason and for extended periods. Try calling support and you're on hold forever or (better yet) just get a recording that indicates they're aware of the issue and are working on it. I have had to call DTV for a couple of issues with HD on a new receiver. I always got right through and got my answer(s).

On top of that I get Sunday Ticket, NFL Network, and no worries about not being able to watch TOB.

 

[shonblatt]

Mediacom absolutely sucks when it is going through this issue (channel debates) but I will stay with them for the following reasons:

1.) WAY CHEAPER!!!! I pay $65 for cable, HD Box, HBO/starz, internet. The discount comes from bundling packages.

2.) Sat DOES get scetchy if the wind blows the wrong way. Snow, rain, lightning all affect the picture and it always seems to happen at the worst times.

3.) HD Channels. Granted Direct and Dish do hold the advantage here but the high def channels I get thru mediacom are the ones that I watch anyway. I have had dish and direct and I didnt watch the game show channel in high def that often.

At the end of the day, picture quality is the same, you can run cable to 40 tvs if you want (and dont need a box), and you can ALWAYS negotitate with Mediacom to get a cheap deal.

And no, I do not work for mediacom.

1) That sounds like an introductory rate that will go way up after it expires. I never found Mediacom to offer long term/permanent deals like that, even with friends working on the inside. You can bundle Qwest DSL with DirecTV, but there's not much of a price break there.

2) Satellite signals will occasionally be compromised during storms - no way around that. But with Mediacom's frequent outages, I'd be willing to bet that Dish/DirecTV uptime is FAR superior that to Mediacom. I've never lost signal due to snow - thunderstorms seem to be my worst problem with dish reception.

 

[shonblatt]

Let me ask you this Dish people....

If I want Hi-Def, Local Channels, as well as all the regular Dish channels how many dishes do I need to make this happen?

Last I knew, I needed a Dish for every one of those scenarios pointing to a different satellite.

With DirecTV, I have one 24" dish - that's it. I get local channels, HD channels, regular channels - pretty much the whole thing.

I've never had multiple dishes with DirecTV - I think that's a Dish Network requirement.

 

[hoffahawk]

I am sure that everyone has their own feelings toward Mediacom, DirecTV, and Dish. So here's my take:

I have had Mediacom forever and made the switch a year and a half ago to DirecTV. I will never go back to Mediacom, ever.

1. In a year and a half we have had maybe 5-6 times that our signal has gone out and like others have said those were all for a few minutes except when our box crapped out. This is 10 times better then what we had to deal with Mediacom in the last year in a half, we went through 5 different boxes in the span of about 8 months, each time losing everything that we had on our DVR. Plus anytime it would rain and I am talking any at all we would lose all of our HD channels signal with Mediacom until the rain stopped.

2. We have had great customer service with DTV, no wait time on the phone at all and even if one person couldn't help you they would get you to the right person and get it fixed. That beats sitting on hold for 45 minutes + which I had happen to me more then a few times with Mediacom.

3. Service time, this is one of the only bright spots for Mediacom since they are a local company the most we had to wait to get someone out to our house was a day or two tops, and in some cases they would be out the same day. With DirecTV it can be longer then that but we have had good success calling back and getting an earlier time then what we got the first time around and again that has only been twice in a year in a half.

4. Price, after the first year promotion with DirecTV ran out we are still paying $20 less for internet with Qwest that we were with Mediacom and the speed is pretty much the same. And we pay $25 less for our actual TV service then we did with Mediacom with at least twice as many channels, more memory on our DVR, and about 10 times more HD channels.

Again I know everyone has different experiences with each company but it's DirecTV by a mile over Mediacom when looking at everything.

 

[shonblatt]

There is one bad thing about DirecTV though...

Good luck if you have a problem. Those people don't know what they're doing and WILL try to screw you.

I haven't had that experience. I've had several problems with equipment and billing, and DirecTV support has always been really good and responsive. Their call centers are even in the USA!

I also had a local company do my installation (Satellite City in Ankeny), and they offer a lifetime warranty on the install. They've come out to remount/reaim my dish 3 times after wind storms - all for free.

 

[deanvogs]

With DirecTV, I have one 18" dish - that's it. I get local channels, HD channels, regular channels - pretty much the whole thing.

I've never had multiple dishes with DirecTV - I think that's a Dish Network requirement.

Could be, and Dish might also be working on it, or have moved them by now, IDK. I usually have these things right away, and sometime they change and/or are improved. At the time I got it, the separate dish was necessary, but only for local HD shows (4 or 5 channels). Didn't need it for non HD locals, only HD locals....go figure....

 

[shonblatt]

Could be, and Dish might also be working on it, or have moved them by now, IDK. I usually have these things right away, and sometime they change and/or are improved. At the time I got it, the separate dish was necessary, but only for local HD shows (4 or 5 channels). Didn't need it for non HD locals, only HD locals....go figure....

Dish Network built up their HD lineup partially by acquisition (They purchased HD competitor Voom a few years back), so I think that's why they required multiple dishes - not sure if that's still the case.

 

[JLoss]

1) That sounds like an introductory rate that will go way up after it expires. I never found Mediacom to offer long term/permanent deals like that, even with friends working on the inside. You can bundle Qwest DSL with DirecTV, but there's not much of a price break there.

2) Satellite signals will occasionally be compromised during storms - no way around that. But with Mediacom's frequent outages, I'd be willing to bet that Dish/DirecTV uptime is FAR superior that to Mediacom. I've never lost signal due to snow - thunderstorms seem to be my worst problem with dish reception.

I have been (back) with Mediacom for 3 years now. Every year or so they try to increase me from the "introductry rate" and I argue and they lower it. I have had all 3 services, no way they can remotely match prices. I'd love to be proven wrong.

"Mediacom's frequent outages?" - I guess I have personally never experienced any. Unless you are counted the Fox / Big Ten network debacles...

 

[JLoss]

The other bonus with mediacom is since I cant watch the game at home, I have since talked my old lady into hitting our favorite watering hole and taking the next day off!!! Now that's making lemonade out of lemons!

 

[hawkeyescott]

I have been (back) with Mediacom for 3 years now. Every year or so they try to increase me from the "introductry rate" and I argue and they lower it. I have had all 3 services, no way they can remotely match prices. I'd love to be proven wrong.

"Mediacom's frequent outages?" - I guess I have personally never experienced any. Unless you are counted the Fox / Big Ten network debacles...

So your actual Mediacom bill a month is around $100 then not the $65 you posted earlier? Yes it would be $65 for internet and cable.

I know they only offered to continue that price for me after I said to cancel my service and by that time it was to late and I switched to Dish, but with Qwest phone and internet along with Dish I pay roughly $120 a month or $20 more than Mediacom's "special rate" but I also get about 30 to 50 more HD channels for this extra $20. Plus with Dish I have 2 boxes control 4 tv's and with Mediacom I would need 3 more boxes since you get the first one "free" and that would be an extra $5 a box for an additional $15 a month so in reality I'm probably only paying an extra $5 a month for twice as many channels. And even though the Qwest high speed isn't as fast as mediacom's internet it is fast enough for what I need it for at home.