TV Problems with CableTV DirectTV or Dish Network

Before you call your cable TV or your DirecTV or your Dish Network repair man, take a few minutes to review these helpful tips. I was a cable manager for 10 years and a satellite manager for another 10 years. I have heard a great number of customer problems and I can make a number of self-help suggestions that could save you money and eliminate the time it takes for repair man to get here. Yes, it is true that these people probably owe you some service. However, if you could deal with the problem yourself, wouldn't that be better than waiting a day or two? Let's give it a try here.

What do you see on your TV screen? If you said "nothing", it is the wrong answer. There are different notions of "nothing". Let's be more specific:

A. Is it black? Is there also no sound? If the answer is "yes" then you truly see nothing and odds are that the TV set is not turned on. It may seem silly, but people do get confused about this. If the picture is black, then check for the absence of lights on the front of set itself to verify that it is turned off.Make sure the set is plugged in and that the wall circuit is not turned off at a switch and that the set itself is turned on. Is the screen all snowy? OK, let's assume that nobody has unplugged the cable box or the satellite receiver. But if they have, plug it back in and tell the culprit that you just paid $50.00 for a service call and they owe you dinner. But if it is all plugged in - and turned on - then check the channel on the TV itself. Receivers and cable boxes (they are properly called "convertors, by the way) typically use the TV set's channel 3 or 4. In many cases you might be using an EXT or an AV channel. At any rate, try tuning the TV tuner to one of these and see if you don't get a picture. Turning the TV set to the wrong channel is the most common source of troubles and has nothing to do with the service that you use. It is a household error and easily fixed by simply changing the TV channel to match the output channel of the receiver or box.

B. Is the picture frozen or full of little colored boxes? This would apply only if you have a satellite system. You see, this is a classic indication of a dish which is either misaligned or has been partly blocked. Is there snow on the dish? (San Diego, ignore this one). Is It raining very hard? (It will stop all by itself). Has a tree grown up in front of the dish? (Trim it.) Is something sitting in front of the dish (move it). Has anyone been on the roof to do some work? (You probably can't fix this one by yourself.) Check your cable connectors to see if they are tight. There is nothing there that can hurt you so go ahead and try it.

The picture is fine but you can't change the channel.

A. Are the batteries in the remote too old? Try changing them.

B. Is there a pot of flowers or pile of books in front of the cable box or the satellite receiver? Move that stuff. Yes, it has happened; you are not first one.

I agree - this is very simple stuff. But you can't imagine how times the cat has changed the channel on a TV. It is uncanny how an animal without opposable fingers can do that.

Happy viewing.