Buying a Satellite TV

Here comes the part you probably aren't looking forward to: shelling out the money and actually buying satellite television. The best advice we can give you on getting the channels and features you want at minimum cost is to check out the promotions direct tv and dish networks are offering.

Promotional deals

are always tons of promotional deals going on. Some will appeal to you, and some won't. Here are some examples:

• At the time of this writing, when you buy DIRECTV and subscribe to the Total Choice package, you'll get two months of 32 premium movie channels and 25 specialty sports channels for free.

• However, because dish network satellite is scurrying to be the top provider, they're offering an even better deal: show them your current cable bill and agree to purchase the Top 100 plus premium movie channels or the Top 150 package (about $40 per month) for one year. In return, you get the actual satellite dish and professional installation for free. This will save you about $400. By the way, even if you don't have cable, you can still get this promotion, you'll just have to pay up front and then get a refund in the mail.

These promotions won't last forever, though, so check out their websites before you buy. Hey, maybe you'll find an even better deal

When it comes to buying the equipment for your satellite television, there are many ways to find the best deal:

• If dish network is the HDTV for you, the best dish to get by far is the DISH 500 satellite TV system (model 3722/3822), which is the one you'll get for free if you take advantage of the deal above. There are other dishes to buy, and you can check them out at the DISH NETWORK homepage, but then again, why on earth would you buy one when you can get one for free?

• Direct tv satellite doesn't offer an official satellite dish; while this makes the process a little more complicated, it does offer more flexibility and choice. The best way to buy the actual dish is to go to a retailer near you and check out what dishes are in your price range and offer what you need.

• As we're sure you could guess, the satellite dish networks also have dealer locaters based on your zip code.

When you buy the actual system, you'll get the dish, the receiver (the box on top of your TV), and a remote control. However, each receiver can only broadcast to one TV. Now, if you only have one TV or want to minimize the amount of screen gazing in your house, that's not a problem. But most likely you'll want the satellite service in more than one room of the house, which is easily accomplished… for a price. What you'll have to do is purchase extra receivers (usually about $100 each plus a nominal per-month charge for each one) and make sure you buy a dish with the capability to send the signal to more than one receiver.

Some other goodies you can get when purchasing equipment: