I am with Am_Fear_Liath_Mor on the free to air. If giving the choice I would have cable over dish, but in the SHTF scenario I would utilize the free to air on the dish. Usually in that situation, the very last thing I would be doing is watching TV unless I was totally bored. All cable is is a satellite signal converted to cable anyways, so if satellites crap out, so does your cable anyway, unless it's a local feed.

Anyway if you click here-----> http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html
These are some of the free channels in the US and if you look at their site---> http://www.lyngsat.com/ they have listings for free channels all over the world. These are legal channels to pick up free, you need a dish 32 inches or bigger with a motor on it to pick up a whole lot of free channels. E-bay through Canada has your best deals, Do a search for Free to Air TV and you will find a ton of receivers to use, they are legal, stay away from the illegal ones to keep out of trouble. If done right you can have a lot of free tv, maybe not the best channels but it's free. I use cable for stuff I want to watch, I'm not a fan of contracts and receiver dependability with dish.


P.S. Big Dish=no rain fade