What is better Dish or DIRECTV?

Up until this point, it seems as though DISH Network and DIRECTV have more similarities than they do differences. Most of their biggest differences come into play when talking about their packages and pricing.

Local Channels

Both DIRECTV and Dish offer local channels to 99% of the United States. The local channels are included in your packaged price.

Premium Channels: Movies & Original Series

Of course, there are many similarities here as well. For example, they both offer local channels, premium channels, and sports channels; but all to different degrees. One difference is that DISH Network is the ONLY TV provider to offer 100% local channel coverage nationwide!

Both DISH and DIRECTV offer similar premium channels, but again there are some differences:

• HBO: DISH offers 9 channels (8 HD, 1 SD) while DIRECTV only offers 8 channels (4 HD, 4 SD)
• Showtime: DISH offers 10 channels (5 HD, 5 SD) and DIRECTV offers 13 channels (10 HD, 3 SD)
• Starz: DISH offers 14 channels (6 HD, 8 SD) and DIRECTV offers 15 channels (8 HD, 7 SD)
• Cinemax: DISH offers 9 channels (4 HD, 5 SD) while DIRECTV only offers 3 channels (2 HD, 1 SD)

No matter what level of entertainment you are looking for, there are many options for you to watch premium channels and get the best movies and TV shows with whichever provider you decide.

Sports Packages

Another big difference that DISH Network and DIRECTV have is when it comes to their sports packages beyond ESPN, which is standard in both. Generally speaking, DIRECTV offers their customers more sports packages and options- but they are quite expensive to purchase. Football fans go CRAZY over DIRECTV’s exclusive NFL Sunday ticket package, but just that package alone can double your monthly costs.

Both DISH and DIRECTV offer the following sports packages:
– MLB Extra Innings – ESPN GamePlan
– NBA League Pass – Fox Soccer Plus
– NHL Center Ice – MLS Direct Kick
– ESPN Full Court

Clearly either would be a great option for anyone who enjoys sports, but now let’s take a look at some differences.

DIRECTV
DIRECTV offers many more sports packages than DISH Network does. To name a few of them, DIRECTV provides: NFL Sunday Ticket

These packages can make any sports fan quite happy, however they are costly. Other features to make sports fanatics happy with DIRECTV are Sports Mix (lets you see up to 8 popular sports channels at the same time and you can select any one to watch full screen), GameSearch (if your game is blacked out, it will tell you if another channel offers it), DVR Scheduler (allows you to set your DVR with any cell phone or computer so you never miss a game, and Advanced Search (find all the sports with just a few clicks of the remote).

DISH Network
While DISH Network might not have all of the pricey sports packages that DIRECTV offers, they offer quite a few (see list above) sports channels and packages for a very reasonable price that can keep anyone happy.

DISH Network does offer NFL RedZone that is similar to DIRECTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket. And they offer a Multi-Sport package deal that gives customers NFL RedZone, NBA TV, NHL Network, and 29 other local sports networks.

• What is DIRECTV TV?
• Review of DirecTV
• Compare DISH to Direct
• How to switch from Dish to DirecTV?
• Internet with dish TV