DIRECTV vs Time Warner Cable TV

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DIRECTV vs Time Warner

With DIRECTV great value comes standard. You simply get more for your money. Cable’s pricing is often confusing and varies greatly from region to region. With DIRECTV, you get the same great channels and the same low rates no matter where you live.
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News Update! Time Warner Cable is dropping HDNet

On May 31, 2009 Time Warner will stop carrying HDNet. Don't be left in the dark, switch to DIRECTV today.

line See our channel line up with pricing and compare to your cable bill! DIRECTV offers more channels at a better quality for less money. Judge the facts for yourself.

With DIRECTV, local channels are included with every package. You’ll also get the best selection of specialty, sports, educational, and premium networks. DIRECTV has also been consistently growing in subscribers over the years. Cable can’t say the same. With a lot of the major cable companies posting losses over the past few years, it seems that a lot of consumers have realized they’ll get better service, more channels, and a better overall experience with DIRECTV – all for less than cable!

The choice is clear. DIRECTV always has been and will remain the leader in high quality entertainment. If you want the best value while also getting the best entertainment experience out there, don’t keep paying high prices for mediocre service. See what you’re missing and switch to DIRECTV today!

Time Warner HD vs DIRECTV HD

Do you want a screen that depicts images as if you're right there? Both DIRECTV and Time Warner offer High Definition (HD). DIRECTV gives viewers over 130 channels of HD programming, totaling 900 hours per week. Such a huge selection of crystal clear, theater-like programming simply can't be beat. Time Warner offers HD programming, but across fewer channels.Why settle for less HD from Time Warner when DIRECTV offers so much more?

DIRECTV offers more National HD Channels then Time Warner, and you get them no matter where you live. Of course, DIRECTV also offers HD Local Channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW) in most US metro areas. Check the Local Channels list in our website right rail.

Give us a call toll free and we'll help you choose the DIRECTV Channel Package that's best for your family budget.

Read on to learn how the two tv companies compare and why 16 million customers nationwide have already chosen DIRECTV, the nation's #1 satellite tv provider.

It's well-known that times are now tough for cable tv companies. In an April, 2007 online Wall Street Journal article, Matthew Karnitschnig writes, "Inside Time Warner Inc., senior executives are considering what was once unthinkable: whether the world's biggest media company should substantially reduce its cable-TV holdings over time."

DIRECTV's Ranks #1 in Customer Service

DIRECTV has again been ranked #1 by J. D. Power & Associates among cable and satellite providers for customer satisfaction, this time in three out of four U.S. regions. The University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index has placed DIRECTV on the top of the list of television providers for the past six years, while cable didn't even make the list.

DIRECTV: 100% Digital Quality

DIRECTV's resolution is excellent because you can get 100% digital quality on every channel, all the time. Despite the name "Time Warner digital cable", some channels are digital and some analog, making picture quality go down.

DIRECTV Exclusives

Are you looking for exclusive programming? If so, turn to DIRECTV! Cable lacks these exclusive, on-demand partnerships. DIRECTV gives you the NFL Sunday Ticket, the FX series before it airs and the newest musical events only on CD USA.

Sports fans flock to DIRECTV for over 25 specialty and regional sports networks featuring action-packed programming from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. Specialty sports packages include the NASCAR HotPass, NBA League Pass and NCAA Mega March Madness.

Phenomenal football coverage is one of DIRECTV's hallmarks. Its exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket ranks high, providing football fans with up to 14 NFL games per week, available in HD as the SuperFan package! In 2003 Time Warner Cable, along with a few other cable providers, refused to carry the NFL Network on the league's terms. This was bad news for football fans on board with Time Warner.

Both Time Warner and DIRECTV give viewers the special MLB Extra Innings package with up to 60 out-of-market games each week throughout the regular season.

DIRECTV is Family Friendly

DIRECTV's Family programming package offers more than 40 channels for a variety of ages and interests. Yet Time Warner's Family Choice package offers 15 digital cable channels in the Family Choice tier after first subscribing to Basic Cable service.

DIRECTV Beats Time Warner. Compare for yourself:

FEATUREDIRECTVTime Warner
Digital quality 100% digital quality on every channel, all the time Digital quality on all higher # channels
Outages Signal 99.96% of the time; DIRECTV is out only 9 minutes a year Prone to more frequent and longer outages
Average # of channels per package More channels than Time Warner for comparably priced packages Fewer channels than DIRECTV for comparably priced packages
Customer service Superior customer service Very poor reviews
Fees for extra standard receivers No charge for setting up standard receivers on multiple tvs in the home Only one set-top box for coverage on multiple tvs with one monthly rental fee
High Definition (HD) Included with Plus HD DVR package, otherwise $10.00/mo. Access Fee; free first HD receiver; $5.00/mo. for each additional HD receiver; up to 150 channels in HD, including major networks and local channels. Not limited in # of channels in HD, which require five times the bandwidth HD on many channels & On Demand programming; monthly fee for service. Over 50 channels.
Digital Video Recording (DVR) Included with Plus DVR, Plus HD DVR & Premier packages; free first receiver through instant rebate, ($6.00/mo. for entire house); 100 hours of recording; built-in dual tuner Uses same set-top box; record up to 35 hours of recording, monthly fee for service usually twice that of DIRECTV
Sports programming Exclusive sports programming with packages such as the NFL Sunday Ticket and Mega March Madness Fair coverage; mostly non-exclusive packages such as MLS Direct Kick, NBA League Pass & NHL Center Ice
Installation fee No Yes
 

Comments

im astonished. i thought i was the only one having this much trouble with time warner! seems as though every comment posted reflects my dilemma exactly. they over charged by double my bill was supposed to be when i 1st got service. i only had internet and cable. cable is awful. my box is always resetting itself and the process takes 4evr. customer service is clueless and 2 of the people were rude. they sent me a coupon to hook up phone service for $20 as part of my bundle. whn i called, they said they had no idea wht i was talking about. the coupon had no fine print or expiration date, so im completely confused as to y the promotional offer wouldnt b n their system. time warner has been a hassle since day 1. and if u ask thm any questions, they can not give a straight answer. im astounded this many of their customers r as dissatisfied as i have been. its a shame.

west columbus, ohio

Thank you all for helping me decide. I never had cable before but because of the bad tv connection called dtv. I think I will be ordering from Direct TV tonite when I get home from work :-)

I had Time Warner Cable for less than 1 year. The service was horrible, and I did not get any good channels. They told me that I was going to pay 30 dollars a month and ended up paying 75 for 4 straight months. I immediately canceled. I then switched to Directv and it was the best choice i ever made. I get more channels and I am happy that I get more Spanish channels. I pay a lot less for a great price!

Dateline: Queensbury, NY
I have been dissatisfied with T-W since I purchased my 40" SONY Bravia HD TV 8 months ago. I have had them to my house 4 times because of poor signal strength, and one tech told me "you have no clue what good picture quality is"........excuse me ??? I have been researching satellite TV and will mlost lilely be switching to DirectTV very soon!

I have had DirecTV for 4 years on a Sony 54" DLP. Yesterday I installed my fathers 50" LCD on Time Warner Cable (Concord, NC). I could not beleive the terrible picture quality. My 15 year old son walked past and asked what was wrong with the TV. I replied, "It's just cable". I have roadrunner, but I'll keep my DirecTV thank you. There are so many more HD channels and there is no comparison when it comes to picture quality.

I am currently a Timewarner customer, but not for much longer. In December 2007 I was shopping around for cable service and Timewarner seemed to offer me a good deal. I was given a 2 year price lock guarantee contract with the premier channels included: HBO, STARZ, Showtime and TMC, however 1 year later the price went up. According to Time warner those premier channels were not part of the price lock guarantee...go figure. Now I have to pay to break my contract....which I will because I don't want to stay with a company that lies.....

I've been a Time-Warner customer for years. About 18 months ago, I purchased a HDTV set and upgraded to HD service from T-W. What a disappointment! Time-Warner compresses the HD signals on almost all the HD channels which results in poor quality pictures. Watching something like a baseball game or football game, any time the camera pans to follow a runner, the background breaks up into lots of big blotches. The quality looks far worse than it ever did on my old analog set. I know it is not the TV, since the picture is fine when viewing DVDs and such. The problem is that T-W is reducing the quality to almost junk so they can send more movies on demand and other stuff on the crappy cable.

Don't waste your time or money with Time-Warner!

Time Warner is the worst and I should know that first hand since I currently just started working for them. BIG MISTSAKE!!!! I have had Direct TV before and they are the best. I think that I might go back to them. So whatever you do stay away from Time Warner.

Columbus, OH

I can feel for the picture freezes and pixals. I switched from directv to time warner Jan 08, biggest mistake I ever made. I did it because the new house I got only had single lines to each tv and i wanted dvr's. Now directv can do dvr's with single lines and capability of recording 2 shows at 1 time

I am looking at a possible conversion to DirectTV. I currently have Time Warner once I converted over to HD with HD DVR the tv signal freezes and the picture is horrible with pixilation etc. With DirectTV and the 5.99 mthly service, do you get a new Receiver/DVR if the one you purchase needs replaced or do you get a refurbished one from DirectTV?

I have had Time Warner for only two months. Initial installation was faulty. It was done by a contractor and not T-W techs. A service call had to be made by T-W techs to correct the "installation". The T-W techs stated that they spend most of their time correcting such faulty installations. In addition the installation is unsightly.

The amount initially quoted for TV, high speed internet and phone service was doubled when I got the first bill. Over the past six weeks, six (6) calls, and three(3) letters have been written (and sent by certified mail. The billing is still in error. There has been no response from the letters. I have paid the amount initially quoted. Now I am being threathed by T-W with damage to my credit rating (credit score is 815, hardly a dead beat). Time to head for 'lawyer land'.

Don't repeat my experience. Find something other than T-W.

Charles
San Antonio

Time Warner Cable is the worst.......they only use USED dvr boxes.......never new. I am on my third and it fractures the picture and we lose words. I pay over $128 a month for a piece of junk. We have not had the use of ON DEMAND for months. Even the service techs cannot fix it..............
I am ready to make a change soon - maybe to DirectTv.......I am checking it out as we speak.
I am an excellent customer, always pay on time, but THEY don't deliver service at all.
They had the nerve to ask me to go MYSELF into one of their locations and pick up another DVR BOX, and install it MYSELF. What are we paying them for?????............I refused to do it and am still awaiting yet another DVR box. 20 miles round trip - can you believe that?
Folks, don't waste your good money on this losing company. It's on its way out, I am sure.

hi everyone
I was going to buy time warner instand but my mom stopped me to order it. Then I told my mom I found a Directv online .my mom said that directv is cheaper. so I order Directv. I can't wait until they install my directv. I will be happier.

from
Valerie from NYC

Coaxial (CATV/Community Access Television) service is a thing of the past from my parents days. I can watch DirecTV in a boat, on a Jet(JET Blue) or private plane, I can watch it in a car or while camping(suitcase unit available from DirecTV). I bash the wire service when you can just talk about the truth and the facts. DirecTV is the future and can offer a lot more. The other service is just trying to copy them and stay in business. Try bringing the other service on your boat or camping in the wilderness(GRIN).

After searching all over time warners website to find out what it would cost to switch from standard cable to HD all I could find were bundle packages. I tried emailing them without any response. Direct TV gives you the prices and great deals right on their website. No Tricks involved. I'm considering switching to Direct TV!

Time Warner, poor service. I am a Time Warner subscriber, and I must admit that the company offers horrible service. They offer very few HD channels in my area, and the ones they do offer are channels I rarely watch. When black-outs occur they usually will last anywhere between 15 minutes to 7 hours! The picture on the screen frequently freezes, and at times will remain frozen for long peroids of time. During peroids of bad weather (especially strong wind) the picture is poor. For the times that I've had to deal with customer service I've only had two representatives that I felt were actually friendly, and wanted to lend me assistance -- the remaining were either rude, made me feel rushed, and at times made me feel "stupid" because I didn't understand all the TV-lingo. I'm strongly considering switching to DirectTV.

Time warner has an overall bad reputation, I switched after dealing with grumpy customer service reps. Direct t.v is hassle free and a pleasure to have. Keep up the good work!

-Ace (satisfied customer)
Hollywood, CA

love Direct Tv with the largest amount of HD channels avalable. I had cable but then i swiched to Direct Tv for the most reliable service.

Time Warner is the worst. How can they possibly think that us Ohio State fans were going to sit by and not watch our Buckeye football? Huge mistake not adding the Big 10 Network. And then to try to keep everyone, they lied and told us they would have an agreement in place and that never came! Ridiculous. I am so glad I made the switch to DirecTV. They even have Big Ten in Hi Def. Go Buckeyes!

Bob
Columbus, OH

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