Which dish provider do you have? How much do you pay a month? What channels do you get? Are you happy with it? Give me details, please...

 

I have the DirecTV/Tivo unit in one. I pay approx $80 a month for everything, including the Tivo service.
If you can still find these units, make sure you get a dual LNB dish and have the installer run two lines to your dish. This way, you can record two programs at the same time

 

I've been thinking about Dish Network. One of my best friends has it and he's very happy with it. He's got the PVR (or something) unit so he can pause and rewind live TV. I think that's the same as Tivo, isn't it? Anyway, you get the unit and the satellite and installation for free if you sign a 12-month contract. The basic plan is 50 channels for like 22.99, and then local channels are +5.99. Those 50 channels + locals are plenty enough for me!

 

I have direct TV, I pay 0.00 per month and have all thechannels
Seriously I pay 49.00 permonth for everything BUT movies and sports.
I think there are cheaper plans but I havent had time to look into them.

If you can manage to get one of those fancy DTV cards or dish network cards I've heard its pretty cool cause you can watch all the local channels from all over the country so if you miss somthing on TV you can catch it on the LA channel 3hours later...

 

For DirectTV you need an older receiver to get the locals.........from what I here... , with those fancy cards.

 

I have Dish Network with the 150 channel package and HBO, TMC, and pay $94.88 a month for 3 receivers. It's a little high, but without movie channels and with just one receiver it would be about $75 I think. The installation and equipment was free, but I pay rent on the receivers each month.

 

Locals are spot beamed now, cant get em all anymore. You get more locals on a hacked dish network system, DTV has only a few you can grab.
I think DTV`s channels are more organized, but maybe I feel that way cause ive been watching DTV longer than Dish. Dish has an interactive deal where you can play games on it thats kinda neat.
As far as a reciever that records, they are not cheap by any means, even on eBay. Figure on spending atleast $400 unless you find a sale or 1 with very little recording time.
DTV`s minimum subscription per month is $32.99, dont know about dish, I think its around $26.
Best bet is if your getting it legit, goto www.directv.com and www.dishnetwork.com and see what their basic packages are.
Another thing to do is look for ads for subcontracters, some of them offer deals where you get all your hardware and installation for free if you sub for a year, and they sometimes can offer a subscription to you for less that DTV or Dish would.
Dont go to best buy of any place like that unless they have the free deals....you can find them all day long other places.

 

I did that. I went to both sites and checked it out. Dish Network is cheaper than Direct TV and is offering a deal right now. Free installation, free Dish 301 reciever, and local channels (they're available in my area, I checked) if you agree to 12 months of service on their basic package or higher. The basic package is 50 channels, which is plenty enough for me, and then $5.99 for the local network channels. So I'd end up with 60-some channels for under $30 a month. Sounds pretty good! What I have to do is check out how things work with the local channels, because it says you have to have Dish 500 hardware to get them. And I should also double-check that they are indeed available at my address.

How do I find those sub-contractors?

 

You need either a dish 500 setup or 2 separate dishes. Dishnetwork has to look at 2 different satellites at the same time to get its programming. Thats what the Dish 500 is, a funky oval looking dish with 2 LNB`s alomst next to each other, each one looks at a different dish. You would only get about half your channels if only 1 dish was being seen.
As far as the subcontracters go, id look in those envelopes full of coupons you get in the mail every week. Look at ads in grocery stores and such. Look for signs on the road. I know the more rural your area is the more likely you are to find them, but they shouldnt be too difficult to find. I guess you can try the phone book and see if anything is in there. They are around, just dont know where. You would probably only save around $2 or $3 a month with the top 50 package anyhow, so it might not be worth the hassle to find one. Biggest thing is making sure you get your equipment and installation for free.

 

Another thing I forgot to tell you about locals. Direct TV doesnt have GR/K-zoo locals, but Dish does.
I did a quick search on the net, found this place. First month free too. Sign up for a year, supply a credit card for auto billing. Even can order it online and have them come out.
http://www.vmcsatellite.com/channels/home.cfm
Ive never used them so I dont know who they are, just what I found. Look into it before you use them if you go that route.
Im sure you might be able to find more if you look on the net.