DTH vs Digital Cable TV Comparison: Which One is Better?

As a consumer, you should choose your service provider wisely which will benefit you in the long run.
The cable TV arrived few decades ago and replaced TV Antennaswhen they were used for receiving the television transmission. The cable TV operators offered many channels and the set up includes huge dish shaped antennas that are placed on top of the cable operator’s office or house. Customers were able to get a connection by paying a deposit and a monthly subscription charges. This set up includes the laying of cables through narrow streets and pathways alongside buildings. Any disruption to service due to rain or other reason led to poor signals transmission.
Around 90 million television analog signals in India will have to be converted into digital signals in four phases as per the Cable Television Networks (CTN) Amendment Bill 2011. India's four metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - will replace all analog television networks with digital transmission from July 1, 2012. After this, the target will be 38 cities with a population above 10 lakh each and finally the rest of India. This has led to a rush between multi-system operators (MSOs) and DTH operators, to grab business opportunities and acquire a large subscriber base.
With digitization of cable services, cable operators need to carry only digitized signals. An STB for decoding in digital format is required to get these digitized signals. Cable operators will have to provide an STB to every subscriber, resulting in an upfront cost to the customer. DTH operators who use satellite and dish antennae are well placed to corner the business from cable operators.
DTH players are leaving no stone unturned to attract consumers to switch from analog cable to digital DTH services. They have been gearing up on all counts ensuring enough number of STBs in place, increasing workforce, and training them for installation of STBs and strengthening the back-end.
Advantage of VAS. The difference between the STB of a digital cable and that of a DTH is the availability of many value-added services (VAS). Indian DTH players have started using VAS to differentiate offerings and establish their USPs. Some of the VAS being offered by various DTH players include on-screen shopping, education, stock market updates, cooking lessons, games, and watching movie premieres on TV from the comfort of one's home. DTH gaming in India has evoked the interest of pre-teenagers, and movies also have a large following. These can be a lever to enhance VAS revenues. 
VAS in India is still in its infancy stage but is expected to be a significant revenue source contributing 5-8 percent of total DTH revenues.
DTH services. There are many channels that are currently available only on the DTH platform. With digitization, subscribers will be able to enjoy high-quality DTH services with good clarity and sound. DTH leaders in India have launched high-definition (HD) services to provide a high quality of TV viewing experience for targeting the upper middle class who demand niche content. As the industry is growing, there are significant new subscriber additions every month and the switch toward the HD mode is quite high. The advantage of having HD channels adds to the potential for grabbing consumer attention.
DTH players have taken various initiatives to acquire major market share in this segment.
Digital cable is any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression for distribution. The technology was originally developed by General Instrument before being acquired by Motorola[1] and subsequently acquired by ARRIS Group. Cable companies converted to digital systems during the 2000s, around the time that television signals were converted to the digital HDTV format, which was not compatible with earlier analog cable systems. In addition to providing higher resolution HDvideo, digital cable systems provide expanded services such as pay-per-view programming, cable internet access and cable telephone services. Most digital cable signals are encrypted, which reduced the high incidence of cable theft which occurred in analog systems.
· DTH provides better picture, audio and sound quality than cable TV. It is because the cable TV in India makes use of analog signals while DTH uses digital signals that are transmitted directly from
· the satellite to home. The cable transmission is still analog in spite of digital transmission and reception of TV signals.
· DTH services provide stereophonic sound effects that are much better than the sound quality received from cable TV.

· DTH services are available even in remote areas and locations however; the penetration of cable TV is limited to only to those terrestrial regions where the cable can be laid.
· Cable TV does not offer any Interactive services while DTH services provide enhanced interactive TV services including Internet access, email, video conferencing and movie-on-demand.
· The DTH and Cable services differ in the way of reaching the consumer’s home. In case of DTH, TV channels are transmitted from the satellite directly to a small dish antenna in the window or rooftop of the consumer’s home. Thus, it allows the broadcaster to directly connect with the user and does not involve middlemen like local cable operator.
The Cable services are offered via the cables laid by cable operators. It involves the transmission of TV channels from the broadcaster via satellite to the dish antenna of local cable operator which then provide connections to the consumers via cables.
· DTH is an advanced next generation technology that offers as much as 700 channels while cable TV has limitations of transmitting selected number of channels with proper picture and sound quality.
· DTH services offer the consumers to select the Dynamic Program Packages they want to use. Thus, consumers will pay for what they want to watch. However, in case of Cable TV, consumers do not have much choice to select their preferred channels.
· Dth services provide Advanced Viewing Control Features such as Electronic Program Guide (EPG), however there are no such services available with cable TV.
· DTh services allows the consumer to move the dish and STB to anywhere conveniently, however it is not the same with Cable tV where consumers have to take new connection at new location.
1. Economical point of view:
a) Set top box: Set top boxes of most of the leading DTH companies cost around Rs 1600/- (including installation charges).
Whereas the set top box of a cable TV should cost around Rs 800/- to 1000/- (including installation charges).
b) Packages:The cheapest base packages of most of the DTH companies start from Rs 150 for South Indian packs & Rs 200/- for rest of India which obviously does not include all channels.
But the cable operators will charge only Rs 100/- for their cheapest base packs as soon as CAS (Conditional Access System) comes into effect & now they charge a nominal rate of Rs 200/- to 250/- for all the channels which varies in different areas.
2. Disruptions:
The DTH vs Digital Cable TV comparison would have been incomplete without discussing the issues that cause disruptions.
Due to bad weather: The most severe drawback of DTH service are that signals don’t reach the set top box & pictures go off when there is slight to heavy rainfall in your area or even in very cloudy conditions.
There is no such drawback in Digital Cable connection.
Due to power cut-off: If there is power cut-off in your area then also you will be able to watch TV with DTH if you have a personal generator or inverter as the DTH service providers beams pictures 24/7.
The pictures in Cable TV fade off when there is power cut-off in your area most of the time. This may vary from place to place.

3. Managing packages:
All the DTH operators have 24/7 customer care & their own websites which gives you a clear idea of the package rates & channels included. You can even manage your own DTH account, drop/add/change a channel or package anytime at your will.
The cable TV operators lack this robust infrastructure. Most of them don’t have a 24/7 customer care or a proper website till date.
4. Quality:
Another inevitable point in this DTH vs Digital Cable TV comparison is Quality.
a) Set top box: The set top box of the DTH companies comes with a 1 year warranty & both the firmware & hardware are of very good quality.
The set top box of the cable TV operators also comes with a year warranty, but are not of such a good quality.
b) Video/Audio: The picture & the sound quality of both DTH & Digital Cable TV are more or less same. In fact DTH can be put a little bit ahead in the race, but only just.
5. Service:
The service & response to customer problems & grievances of most of the DTH companies are quick. They have 24/7 customer care to help you & addresses most of the problem within 24hrs. However, the quality/effectiveness of service & response time varies from one DTH company to another.
The cable TV operators lack such organized service & are also not available to hear you 24/7. In case of cable operators, the quality of service/response varies from place to place.
6. Portability:
The DTH providers provide relocation services all over India. In case you shift from one place to the other, you don’t need to buy a new set top box or any accessories of your DTH. This is useful for people who have a transferable job.
The cable TV operators do not provide any such services & you may even have to buy a new set top box for your new place.
7. Payment:
DTH is a prepaid service. So you can choose not to recharge your account if you are out of station. This is useful for people who mostly have to stay out for work or other purpose.
Using Cable TV you have to pay irrespective of the fact that you were at home or some other place. 8. Regional channels:
DTH has got much less regional channels than cable. But you can watch your own regional channels even if you don’t stay in your own state. So this is beneficial for those who don’t stay in their native place.
Cable TV operators provide many more regional channels. But if you are a person who doesn’t stay in your native place then you won’t get much of your own regional channels as cable operators mostly beam the local regional channels.
9. Pause/Record/Rewind live TV:
This makes the DTH vs Digital Cable TV comparison more interesting.
DTH companies provide these services at no extra cost. You just have to buy a set top box with storage capacity, which is a bit costly.
Cable TV operators are yet to provide such services. So, here was a vivid idea of the DTH service providers & Digital Cable TV. Now you have to weigh the pros & cons and make the ultimate decision to choose the medium that suits you the best. In case, you have any more queries, feel free to write to us & it will be our pleasure to help you.
In a nutshell, the conclusion reached from the above DTH vs Digital Cable comparison article is given below: