Special sports packages are strong lures. Similar deals are available for professional baseball and basketball and major college sports. Dealers have experienced some frustration of their own over the erratic pricing of satellite receivers. In fact, I can't think of a single instance where we've had to tell somebody it just wouldn't work. But sometimes cable can go places where satellite can't.
Apartment buildings are a problem for satellite since each dwelling requires a separate dish.
Sanfemio says gated communities with strict esthetic codes have actually been less problematic because the little dishes are easily concealed. By any measure, the popularity of satellite television is growing. Satellite broadcast companies such as DirecTV held a 9.4 percent share of the national television market in 1998, up from 7 percent the previous year, according to a Federal Communications Commission study released late last year. But cable, which saw its share decline to 85 percent from 87 percent, remains overwhelmingly dominant. You know which services you're getting for the money you pay.