i've been in electronics a long time so heres my view:
On the AC power side of things: most "power strips" and/or "surge protectors" that look like a power strip are crap. junk. a waste of money. If you are not paying several hundreds of $$$$ for one, its probably not effective. The cheap "power strips" that say "surge protection" you see in like...Wal-mart for instance for $14.00 are useless. All they give you is extra outlets.
Many trouble calls are solved with bypassing the surge protector and plugging the receiever power cord directly into the wall.
A better option if you really CARE is to buy a UPS with power conditioning. And I'm not talking about one of those "80.00" ones. These expensive units stand a better chance of actually protecting your stuff.
On the coax side of it: Many trouble calls are "solved" by removing the SAT SIGNAL cable from an overpriced Monster surge protectors coax connectors and plugging it directly into the receiver. Sometimes those monster things work, sometimes they dont.
If your Dish is grounded properly, stray voltage will drain from the coax to the ground point thru the ground block.
Last point: A direct lightening strike is likely to fry everything wether or not you have surge protection. Your only real chance is to get one of the expensive UPS's I described above.
Really, you are better off just making sure your stuff is covered under your home owners/renters insurance.
my 2 bits.
