If you’re a sports lover, DIRECTV is a top choice, thanks to NFL SUNDAY TICKET. But, DISH has the best DVR option with the Hopper, along with the best prices. Before you install a satellite dish on your home, keep reading this review to learn which option might be best for you. With that in mind, pricing is one of DISH’s biggest advantages. DISH is now offering “inflation-free TV” with their new 3-year TV price lock as well as free installation. Making DISH TV not only cheaper in the long term, but you also get a little more for your money. DIRECTV used to have huge price hikes after its two-year contract pricing ended. Now, after your contract is up, your price will revert to DIRECTV’s current package rates on a month-to-month contract. Needless to say, we like that way more than package prices doubling after 24 months. We think so. We’ll dive into DISH channel selection in a bit, but we think it’s pretty great that each DIRECTV and DISH package comes with ESPN, the Disney Channel, HGTV, and Food Network. Seriously, that hits all of our binge-watching needs—and your family’s too. But if you choose DIRECTV CHOICE or above, you’ll be living the sports lover’s dream. You get a free season of NFL SUNDAY TICKET, which means you’ll get access to all out-of-market Sunday NFL games. It’s a value of a few hundred dollars. So if you’re signing up specifically for the sports packages, it’s a nice bonus. With DIRECTV, your bill used to go up by almost double after 24 months. Now that your prices will match DIRECTV’s prevailing rates when your contract is up, choosing between providers comes down to the nitty gritty details. So if you don’t mind dropping some exceptional sports coverage for a more straightforward monthly bill, we highly recommend DISH. When you order one set-top box for your home, you’ll get the Hopper Duo (125 HD hours) with DVR service included without any up front cost. You can upgrade to the Hopper 3 or a Joey for an extra $5 a month. It pays to have a big family because when you get the Hopper 3, you’ll get to enjoy 500 or HD storage hours. The additional receivers you order for your child’s bedroom and TV room downstairs are called Joeys. Joeys are $5 per month each (except for the $10-a-month Super Joey.) And you can connect up to six Joeys to your Hopper. DIRECTV so kindly includes the Genie DVR (200 HD storage hours) with your plan, and it’ll cost $7 per month for each additional receiver. DIRECTV’s NFL SUNDAY TICKET is its secret weapon. DISH has more total sports channels and better college sports coverage with ACCN, Big Ten, SEC, PAC-12, Longhorn, and ESPNU.) And both are going to have your local, lifestyle, and kids channels. So check out DISH’s channel lineup and DIRECTV’s channel lineup to see if one has a more complete channel lineup than the other for you. When you order one of DIRECTV’s packages, you’ll get free subscriptions to HBO Max, SHOWTIME, STARZ, MGM+, and Cinemax for three months. DISH also offers a free 3-month subscription to SHOWTIME and DISH Movie Pack (11 movie channels, including Sony Movie Channel and MGM HD).
DISH Movie Pack: $10/mo. (includes 11 movie channels such as Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and Movieplex). DIRECTV Movies Extra Pack: $4.99/mo. (includes nine move channels such as Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Sony Movie Channel.)
Whichever satellite TV provider you choose, you’ll most likely be able to get your favorite premium channel. Both satellite TV providers offer a pretty beefy sports channel lineup if you’re willing to pay for higher-tier packages—DISH even offers the NFL RedZone Channel if that’s your jam. But like we’ve mentioned before, DIRECTV is the only place you’ll find NFL SUNDAY TICKET. Here’s a quick look at how DISH and DIRECTV compare when it comes to sports. DISH has the following sports channels: DIRECTV has the following sports channels: DIRECTV offers the main set-top box in the cost of service—which is nice—while DISH charges $5–$10 per month. A lot of providers charge a fee for the primary receiver, even though it’s basically necessary to use the service. And we should also mention DISH comes with a voice remote, and DIRECTV allows you to download an app to use as a voice remote. Watch what you want within seconds with just a few words! With 500 HD recording hours, the Hopper 3 can store more than twice the amount of HD content as the Genie—that’s nearly three straight weeks of continuous watching. As for the simultaneous recordings, the Hopper 3 can handle a whopping 16 at once, whereas the Genie is limited to just five. You may think you’ll never need to record 16 shows at one time, and you might be right. That’s the point, though—with the Hopper 3, you basically never have to worry about recording conflicts, whereas with the Genie, there’s a very real possibility that you may run into them. Recording conflicts are something you only think about when they crop up, and they can be very frustrating. (Who wants to decide between the big game and the latest episode of Blue Bloods?) The Hopper 3 also skips commercials automatically, which is the icing on top for us. That said, the Genie is still an outstanding DVR, so if you choose DIRECTV, you won’t be too far behind.
Pricing: DISH, hands down, has the best pricing. While DIRECTV’s and DISH’s pricing looks similar, DIRECTV’s monthly cost goes up to its current price after the second year of your contract, and DISH promises a 3-year price lock. That means you’ll save money overall if you choose DISH. Channels: We think DISH has an excellent assortment of channels, and it offers a few more sports channels. But DIRECTV is the only way you can get NFL SUNDAY TICKET. We NFL fans need that. DVR: DISH’s Hopper 3 is the most powerful DVR on the market—and as a result, DISH takes this category by a landslide. DIRECTV’s Genie is still great, though, it has quite a bit less storage space than the Hopper 3.
Want to dig into the details? Check out our in-depth DISH and DIRECTV reviews. This is because the satellite TV signal is routed from space. All you need is a receiver rather than complex cable infrastructure that other providers need. There’s a popular notion that satellite TV is unreliable, but while weather-related interference is technically possible, you’ll only see issues during particularly heavy rain, snow, or hail. Both DISH and DIRECTV advertise “99% signal reliability,” and that’s about what you can expect. That said, if you happen to live in an area that gets a lot of rain or thunderstorms, you might be better off with a cable TV provider rather than satellite TV.
