Your recent article comparing AT&T cable television with satellite dish systems left out some significant differences: With cable TV, we never know what signal quality we'll come home to in the evening. It can be reasonably good one day and terrible the next.
And the digital channels can be "tiling" or off the air altogether. This is because the cable company's transmission adjustments for one part of the valley can foul it up for the rest of us. With a dish, this cannot happen. It's just your dish and the satellite and no middle man interference to worry about.
As for AT&T Broadband (bundling phone and internet service with cable TV), beware: Whenever your cable picture is poor or being "worked on" somewhere, you lose your Internet connection as well. Combine these drawbacks with continually increasing cable rates and the future doesn't look good for cable TV.
Dishes offer more channels and a much better picture for the same (or less) money. So much for AT&T's commercials about cable being the "smarter" choice! (And I resent paying for these misleading advertisements with increased subscription rates.)
Since they can't match the picture quality of a dish, cable's only hope is to offer an economic advantage. That means lower rates or free Internet service.
The emerging high-definition TV system is placing even greater importance on crisp, clear TV signals, and that's something cable companies can't provide with any consistency. It's time they realized that they can't compete by charging a high-end price for a low-quality product.
The two dish systems (Direct and Dish) are offering free equipment, free installation (one has even offered free lifetime service), and both do carry the local channels. This is a real war, and I'd hate to see cable TV lose out. But if it's going to survive, it'll have to get its act together — and fast!
Liz Frasuer
Salt Lake City