Dish Network or DirecTV

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DirecTV
See their offer

Dish Network
See their offer

Popularity

Most popular with more than 10 million customers in the United States.

Also very popular with millions of customers and growing rapidly.

Transmission
Quality

100% Digital high quality signal

Programming

Supports up to 225 channels.

DirecTV has exclusive rights to some sports channels but you need to pay an extra fee to get these channels. The exclusive sports packages include NHL Center Ice, MLB Extra Innings, NY Yankee Games, NBA League Pass and NFL Sunday Ticket which gives you access to almost every NFL game.

Supports up to 500 channels.

Great range of programming including many sports channels. Has more comprehensive international programming with additional foreign language programming packages.

Cities

DirecTV has access to some cities that Dish Network does not: Las Vegas, Memphis, Milwaukee, Columbus and Baltimore.

Dish Network has access to the follwoing cities that DirecTV does not: Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Honolulu and Grand Rapids.

Pricing

Basic packages' prices range are between $31.99 to $81.99.

Basic packages' prices range are between $22.99 to $72.99. Promotions are more aggressive. You can get installation of up to four receivers for free if you commit to 12 months of service.

Personal Video Recording

Personal Video Recording (or PVR) is a great new technology where you can record as many programs as you like, and you can even pause or rewind in the middle of live programming! Both DirectTV and Dish Network offer these technologies, but with Dish Network you do not have to pay an additional monthly fee to access the technology.

Customer Service

They both offer online services like viewing current and prior statements, add packages and make payments to your account.
They also provide online user manuals and installation guides.

Warranty

They both offer 12 months of warranty from the day of activation and a
24 hours customer service line but Dish Network's customer service is done in-house so it may be of a higher quality.