Satellite for cabin

I have directv at home and am looking to put up a dish at our cabin so that we can have cable up there. Last year I was able to hook up an old dish and we could get everything except the local stations. Could this be because the dish was pretty old? I'm looking on craiglist at a newer dish that the guy says is 2 years old and says slimline across the dish part. Is there anything else that I need to know? Thanks for any help you can give.  Also is it possible Directv would come out and install a dish at no charge?  or would they charge for something like this?