"I'm getting a cable or satellite TV package soon..."
The main things to focus on here in a way have very little to do with the specific controls that each provider has implemented and much more to do with the importance of the available content, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of each individual service. Depending on your particular viewing choices each service provider that you are considering to hire could have a specific advantage. Each individual service provider essentially has attempted to create a niche for themselves in the past and therefore something either remains exclusive to them or is a major area of focus. [Example, DirecTV with NFL ticket]
As with most things in the electronics and home entertainment market, basic functionality and available options are going to ever so slightly differ compared to the next. Obviously each of the systems will have a unique interface but functionality should remain comparable (as previously stated) so typically decisions are ultimately made based upon brand loyalty, referral, or cost. I will say that from what I have seen, most cable service providers have been more active in developing widgets then have the satellite service providers but that is really almost a non-factor.
One final thing to consider, again has very little to do with actual content or even interface but simply the reliability of continual service(s). Cable by its very nature of being a "hard-wired" system should typically provide more consistent steady service than will wireless systems (satellite). Many different components can obviously affect a wireless system with interference (ie dish shifting, bad weather, etc) which would rarely ever be the case with its "hard-wired" counter-part.
