Seven million U.S. homes now sport a pizza-sized dish antenna that receives TV programming beamed from a satellite. Does a dish make sense for you? With its hundreds of channels, transmitted digitally, satellite TV offers state-of-the-art picture and sound and a wide selection of programming, especially in movies and sports.

But before you decide to cut your cable or retire your antenna, consider the downside to a dish. Satellite is not an inexpensive option. You must buy equipment and pay monthly programming fees that can easily exceed those for cable, and you may still need a cable subscription or an antenna after you mount a dish, since satellite programming does not include local broadcast stations.

Here are areas in which cable still holds the upper hand:

• Access to service. Some 97 percent of American households now have the option to subscribe to cable. To receive satellite service, you need a clear sight from your home to the southwest horizon, along which the service’s broadcast satellites are arrayed.
• Getting equipped. It’s easier to get started with cable than with satellite service. Most cable systems don’t require you to buy or rent equipment, unless you want to receive premium or pay-per-view channels.

With satellite service, you must first choose among the three satellite systems, each with its own satellite, programming and other distinctions. Then you select your equipment, often from among several brands sold for the satellite system you’ve chosen. Unfortunately, little of the equipment sold today will be able to take full advantage of upcoming developments such as Dolby Digital sound processing and high-definition TV. Given the pace of change in satellite TV, leasing equipment is an appealing alternative.

Here are some instances where dishes have the edge on cable, at least for now:

• Picture and sound quality. Satellite images don’t reproduce images perfectly—but they come very close. Cable systems, by contrast, often vary widely in signal quality from channel to channel.
• Breadth of programming. Satellite systems have double or more the number of channels found on a typical analog cable system.

Satellite also offers more choices in movies than cable. On a satellite system, a premium movie network may occupy up to seven channels, each showing a different movie at a particular hour.

Plus, satellite systems typically offer 30 or so services that play, without commercials or interruption and a range of CD-quality music.

If you’re someone who must have it all when it come to TV programming, or must have the best when it comes to picture and sound, a satellite system may be a compelling choice—especially if you can’t receive cable where you live.

For other consumers, cable probably remains the better choice, at least for now.

Reminder: Individuals who want a satellite dish need to file for approval by the ACC. Homeowners should be reminded that there are restrictions on where dishes may be placed.