For those thinking of switching to DirectTV 'cos of the Viacom thing

just be aware that you may have real trouble getting local stations; we had been told we got them and then they reneged and we had to get waivers and pay extra and we STILL could not get CBS no matter WHAT we did, not even the East/West coast ones (we are in Minnesota) because they claimed we should be able to get local from the atenna...not a chance...
So just be cautious before rushing into anything...
We hated DirectTV, lousy customer service...

I boldly predict that this will be resolved by the time the NCAA tournaments start.

regret it 'cos they bought a line of ad bull from anyplace!:-)

We switched from Dishnet to Directv because Direct offered all local stations. We did this about a year ago in South Mississippi. We get all the local stations from New Orleans which is "local" to us. We've been more happy with Direct customer service than DISH. Interestingly, the same local company handles both services.

I kept an old TV in my studio for local things. The town did not have cable so it was what you had to have if you liked TV. I did think it was interesting to watch Ga and Calif nightly news and the other Ch was just gone because of some odd law.I was not going to put something up on my roof to get all local stuff so in a pinch I could just get a so so picture with rabbit ears.I also did have to plow through the snow and clean up the dish when it was a 3 foot dish but that got better when the size went down and they could put it on your house.I do miss a lot of stuff I can not get any more. Odd college ch and a very interesting news station with a women named Amy goodmen, I think.

That's an interesting news program. They talk about most of the stuff we discuss here on DU. I like the UCTV and other college stations too. DirectTV doesn't have those, so I'll try to stick it out with Dish.

But I'm jonesing for The Daily Show bigtime, so I might make the switch anyway. They offer satellite broadband through the same dish if you order them together. That's tempting with my sporadic dialup service.

I just saw another sat that wanted $89 per month.