If you are in an area serviced by Cox Cable, you are not without options for your television service. The following is a comparison of Cox and Dish Network, so it will be a little easier to see how they stack up against each other. Coverage Area Cox Communications, or Cox Cable is the third largest cable company in the United States, behind only Comcast and Time Warner. It is important to note that Dish Network boasts higher subscriber numbers than Cox overall and has made significant gains in Cox's largest coverage areas; Arizona, Nevada, Louisiana, California and Florida. Dish is on nearly equal footing in other Cox areas most notably, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Virginia and Nebraska. Like other "Big Cable" providers Cox has the ability to offer customers Internet and Phone service and spends a lot of their advertising efforts on triple play packages or bundles. Dish Network concentrates on providing the very best television value, price and technology to its customers. If you are a consumer in the market for more than just television service, Dish Network also has partnerships with satellite Internet, DSL and phone providers. The overwhelming quality of their television offerings makes it important that these are considered by customers falling into this category. Compare Cox and Dish Network Channel Packages Cox Basic/Expanded cable has a price tag of $47.95 per month for Standard Digital, $52.95. Dish Network offers no less than three packages with more channels and lower prices. Dish Network's Classic Bronze has over 120-channels and is regularly $39.99 ($24.99 for the first year). Classic Silver has more than 220-channels and is regularly $52.99 - the same as Cox's expanded Digital tier, with significantly more channels. When you consider that you can get this package for ($37.99 for the first year, it's hard to see any value in Cox). Classic Gold from Dish Network adds even more value $62.99 regularly for more than 260-channels and is in promotion right now for $47.99 for the first year. For the cost of having one television in your home outfitted with Cox's Standard Digital Service $52.95, you can set up your home with Dish's Classic Bronze get over 120-channels in digital format, add more than 60-channels in High-Definition and get one TV set up with an HD-DVR and have digital picture and DVR on a second TV and still be at Cox's price for one TV with digital channels and no DVR service. DVR and HD Receivers: Dish Network's Advantage Where the comparison really begins to get unfair is Cox fees for additional digital boxes ($6.00 per month) DVR/HD boxes ($12.00 per month) HD-DVR capable boxes ($18.00 per month) Dish Network by comparison charges $5.00 per month for additional receivers, $7.00 per month for additional HD receivers and $12.00 per month for additional HD-DVR receivers. It is also important to understand that Dish Network's technology advantages over Cox in terms of receivers allows Dish customers to operate two TV's with full programming and DVR capabilities while using just one receiver and saving cost. Dish HD vs Cox If you are in the market for HD programming you will be comparing Dish Network's industry leading 140-HD channels, to Cox Cable's 20-50 channels. Cox's HD availability will vary greatly depending on where you live. Cox will argue that there are no additional charges for HD with them, but given the disparity between Dish and Cox, I will gladly pay the additional $10.00 per month. Dish Network vs Cox: Conclusion When it comes to sports programming, both providers are pretty similar. The differences being, Dish Network carries the NFL Network Red Zone channel, Cox does not. Cox however, has MLB Extra Innings, Dish does not. The choice seems pretty clear when comparing the video services of both companies. Dish Network has significant advantages in the areas of cost, value, programming and technology. If on-demand services, you know, being able to watch what you pay for already, whenever you want, out-of-market baseball games, or bundled services (starting at $129.99) are your thing, than Cox may be the right choice for you. For everyone else it's clearly Dish Network. By: Frank Bilotta
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