Cable companies do charge for installation but dont pay the techs very much, so it's not a big expense for them. A 4 outlet install for cable might pay $30-$45, but a 4 receiver dish job pays $130. You will spend the same amount of time on either but make 3 times as much w/ dish. Not bad. Been there done that.
Also cable companies recycle the equipment without refurbishing the boxes from one customer to another. It's not uncommon for cable installers to have 3 or more bad boxes in a day doing installs. Another way cable saves on expenses. With dish you might have 1 bad box a week. DBS equipment is in far better shape the cables equipment.
Either way cable sucks. I would never do cable installs ever again.
