It seems like finding family-friendly TV programming to watch with your family can be more trouble than it’s worth. But DIRECTV’s offerings make it easy to enjoy satellite TV with your family without leaving your kids and teenagers in the dust.

Check out some of the many channels that provide your home with educational programs and entertainment:

• ABC Family

• Animal Planet

• Discovery Kids

• National Geographic Channel

• Nickelodeon

• The Science Channel

• TV Land

But don’t worry about your kids having to stick to these family TV channels to avoid seeing age inappropriate things on TV. DIRECTV also has parental control settings to allow you to choose what TV programming they can watch.

This six-season prison series chronicles a cell block in Oswald Maximum Security Correctional Facility, but isn’t all yellow-brick road and tin men. In “Oz,” the fourth level of the prison, called Emerald City, is a setting for constant power struggles over drugs and inmate gangs stemming from moneymaking schemes, gambling and hoaxes.

Harrold Perrineau (“Lost”) serves as the show’s wheelchair-bound narrator Augustus Hill in the experimental cell block, all under supervision of Ernie Hudson (“Ghost Busters”) as Warden Leo Glynn.

Watch “Oz” air for the first time in HD outside of HBO on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on The 101 Network, un-cut with no commercials. The 101 Network is available only through DIRECTV.

Relive critically-acclaimed premium movie channels’ original series, experience sell-out concerts and enjoy original DIRECTV programming on The 101 Network.

Simply tune into channel 101 – available only to DIRECTV customers with the purchase of any programming package – and enjoy entire seasons of the following programming:

• “Deadwood:” Go for a wild ride through HBO’s western drama as two newcomers venture into the uncivilized outpost of Deadwood and encounter a number of objectionable characters.

• “The Dan Patrick Show:” Veteran sports journalist Patrick delivers the latest sports news and features players and coaches as guests on his live talk show.

• “Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities:” Follow the Mr. Asia Syndicate in a portrayal of the underground drug war that rocked Australia during the ‘70s and ‘80s in this real-life “Sopranos.”

• “Supreme Court of Comedy:” Stand-up comedians represent litigants in actual disputes while the honorable “Judge” Dom Irrera presides.

• “Oz:” A wheelchair-bound inmate narrates all the action and twists between correction officers and prisoners that occur inside an experimental cell block in a maximum-security prison.

Also be sure to check out sneak peeks and specials from premium movie channels like HBO®, SHOWTIME® and Starz®, which vary by month but have featured “True Blood” and “Entourage” in the past.

Predictions of top-performing NFL rookies like Dez Bryant and Tim Tebow, and the start of pre-season training camps have put football fans into advanced stages of anticipation. However, NFL fans out there can also ready themselves for the upcoming 2010 NFL season by ordering NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ from DIRECTV now.

Check out these reasons to order NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ now:

• Watch every NFL game in HD

• See eight games on one screen with Game Mix

• Enjoy the NFL Network and Red Zone Channel

• Get the package exclusively through DIRECTV

• Catch games on your smart phone, e-reader or computer with NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ To-Go

Order the DIRECTV PREMIER™ package now and get the NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ with 285+ channels and some of the best sports DIRECTV has to offer!

Feel at home in the U.S. with available satellite TV programming packages featuring content in your native language and from your native country.

Each of these DIRECTV TV packages include: GEM NET (Channel 2068) with 24-hour, non-commercial programming centered on culture, spirituality and family; MHz Worldview (Channel 2183) with global news and content from international broadcasters in English; and CCTV-9 (Channel 2053) with news and information for a global audience from China’s largest national TV network in an English-language, 24-hour format.

Below are the available packages:

• Brazilian: Four packages with soccer coverage and four of Brazil’s most popular channels.

• Cantonese: Six top Cantonese channels, including TVB through the Jadeworld® package.

• Mandarin: Two packages are available, Jadeworld® with both Cantonese and Mandarin channels, and MandarinDirect® III with just Mandarin channels.

• Filipino: Choose from three packages with TFC and other popular channels with news, talk shows and popular series.

• Greek: Order two of the most popular Greek channels a la carte or choose from two packages.

• Korean: Two available packages offer a variety of channels including news coverage, popular dramas and religious programming.

• Russian: Three packages of classics, political commentary, cartoons and popular TV shows, and a la carte channels give you plenty from which to choose.

• South Asian: Pick from five packages and three a la carte channels that cover Bollywood, spiritual programs, special events, news and sitcoms.

• Vietnamese: All four packages include SBTN, the first American, 24-hour Vietnamese programming network.

Make sure your baby is watching programming that will help enrich both of your lives! BabyTV™ – available a la carte as a premium channel through DIRECTV – is America’s first channel dedicated to helping your baby or toddler learn.

The most important part of your baby’s development happens when you interact with them. BabyTV™ programming includes a variety of TV shows that will help you engage, play and learn with your baby. About 80 percent of the channel’s award-winning programming is original content and provdes a convenient alternative to pricey baby DVDs.

Some popular BabyTV™ shows include:

• “Sing with Numbers”

• “Activity Nursery Rhymes”

• “Kids and Pets”

• “Baby Art”

• and many more

Order BabyTV™ today and enjoy 24/7 commercial-free programming for you and your baby!

Sports are a part of the American fabric, and fans across the country tune in every day to follow their favorite teams. They’re aided in no small part by technology, specifically satellite television. Over the past ten years, coverage has expanded wildly, and today, every major American sport (along with some more obscure sports from around the globe) is available on TV. The best coverage comes from DIRECTV, with a package for every sport.

NFL SUNDAY TICKET for Football: The NFL SUNDAY TICKET is the perfect way to catch every football game the whole season long. For fans living away from their hometown team, there’s no better way to catch every down on Sunday.

NBA LEAGUE PASS for Basketball: The NBA LEAGUE PASS has all the hardcourt action you’ll be able to handle. Up to 40 games a week are broadcast, with 20 of them featured in stunning high definition television: a real slam dunk for basketball fans.

NHL CENTER ICE for Hockey: NHL CENTER ICE has all of hockey’s most hard-hitting action. With dual feeds offering both home and away commentary, you’ll have your choice of broadcasting.

MLB EXTRA INNINGS for Baseball: If you’re a baseball fanatic, you absolutely need MLB EXTRA INNINGS. You’ll have access to 80 games a week, including 40 matches in high def. And with the MixChannel, you can track 8 games at a time-that’ll come in handy once we start down the September stretch.

With DIRECTV satellite TV you can you access to all different types of top sporting events. These are just the four major sports. DIRECTV also offers packages that bring you both domestic and international soccer, Nascar, cricket, and all of the college sports you could ask for.

Football season is upon us, folks, and that means just one thing. If you’re planning on keeping track of your favorite team (along with all of the other action across the league), you need to order the DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket. There is no better way to enjoy all of the excitement that comes with the territory: hard hits, gravity-defying end zone catches, and, of course, Terrell Owens‘ legendary touchdown celebrations.

DirecTV streams up to 14 out of market games into your living each week as part of the NFL Sunday Ticket package. For fans living away from their team, that’s pretty much a necessity. Why head out to the bar to squint at a screen thirty feet away when you can enjoy your team from your own living room?

Let’s use a Buffalo Bills fan as an example. His company’s recently relocated him to Phoenix. While he’s loving the improvement in weather, his beloved Bills are nowhere to be seen on cable. Direct TV satellite TV and the NFL Sunday Ticket come to the rescue. This fan can now enjoy his favorite team week in and week out.

DirecTV also brings other features to the table, including Player Tracker (a sure hit for Fantasy Football fans), the NFL Network, and all of the pregame coaches’ shows from across the league. You just won’t find any of these extras on cable.

But you’ll have to act quick. Special deals on the NFL Sunday Ticket are available right now, but as the preseason approaches, they’re likely to increase. With all of this great action available, why wait? Talk to a representative today to find out how DirecTV can change the way you watch football.

Soon it will be time for the American version of football, NFL! In fact, this year is going to be bigger than ever for the NFL because the DIRECTV NFL SUNDAY TICKET is now offering full games on your iPhone. You will be able to watch up to 14 games every Sunday. Now, that of course is impossible to do but you will have a choice from that many games. You can choose from any number of cities and teams that are playing throughout the day.

At home, on your regular dish, you can enjoy being able to get the real-time scores and in-depth stats at the press of a button. I personally constantly tweet and twitter as the games are being played.  I have different twitter buddies all over the world that I’m members of various team fan clubs with.  And we’ll either watch games “together” as I view my satellite TV, or they’ll simply tweet with me about games they’re watching, while I watch different games on DIRECTV SUNDAY NFL TICKET. I record games on my DVR and watch them if there are two or three games playing at the same time that I want to see. I can always watch them later!

Having a satellite TV service in one’s home is already a step up from the ordinary TV services that most folks have—measly cable subscriptions or worse.  Yet not all satellite television services are created equal, and you need to make sure that you are getting all the right packages and features.

DIRECTV has endless amounts of benefits and features with its program. First there is the HD DVR feature. Few gadgets can offer the ultimate customer satisfaction that a good DVR can offer at this point.  These tiny little devices have come a long way over the last few years, and it’s safe to say that by now there need be no misgivings about purchasing or ordering one (both are options).  For starters, viewers have the ability to store roughly 100 hours of HD video content—weeks and weeks of viewing material!  Also, DIRECTV has made it possible to schedule new recordings on your DVR via cell phone, or anywhere that has an internet connection.  That is the epitome of convenience, and no matter when a person happens to remember that they need or want to record a certain program, they will have the means to do so.

Also, there is the NFL SUNDAY TICKET package, the flagship sports package of the moment.  There is simply nothing a football lover could be missing in this package: there’s the ability to get 14 games per week; to see up to 8 of them on the same screen simultaneously; to view them on one’s iPhone or computer when away from the TV; and to follow all the stats on players and teams that a football lover could ever conceive of.

Of course, these features are just the beginning of a broad universe of viewing treats…only available through DIRECTV.