In the modern age, television is constantly changing. First it was broadcast mostly via massive towers, then eventually cable television was born. Next, satellite television after commercial satellite launches. Finally, the internet branches of many media corporations have begun to air full episodes of what were originally television shows. So who will win out?

There are many factors to consider within satellite tv, first is price. DirecTV and Dish Network both usually have their lowest bare bones plans around $20 to $30 a month, whereas the cable companies would be $40 a month for a comparable package, with both the cable and satellite providers having roughly 60 channels.

However, if you were to select the DirecTV plan at $40 versus the average cable plan at $40, DirecTV has over 200 channels, whereas Cable only offers that mere 60 channels. Dish Network’s plans are also similarly priced with similar features, so you can tell that across the board, satellite TV outclasses Cable in price per channel received. Currently some Dish Networks plans are running introductory rates, including one at $9.99 a month for 100 channels, comparing it to cable’s $40 a month for 60 channels, it can be a real eye opener. A more aggressive marketing campaign could be made on that price point to devastating effect against cable television.

On price per channel, satellite consistently outclasses cable in almost every respect. For the lowest bare bones pricing, satellite dominates the competition, particularly Dish Network. You could get one of the largest Dish Network packages with far more than 200 channels even for the same price as cable’s most bare bones 60 channel packages. Cable has got to find a way to be competitive with that level of pricing or they could be facing a big hurdle as they lose customers to the cheaper, more reliable, satellite television companies which offer a wider selection of channels.

Another factor is downtime, there is little point in paying for television if you’re not receiving any. Cable television outages vastly exceed Satellite TV by a large margin, with the average cable television experiencing about 4% outages, versus satellite television having only 1% outages.

Finally, location. Millions upon millions of Americans live in an area where cable simply cannot reach. Yet satellite television broadcasts over a much larger area, and can reach the millions of Americans in suburban and rural areas that do not receive cable.

With all of the factors laid out above, it is clear that satellite television has the edge on cable.