I was posting in a hurry and I didn't choose the best phrase. I mean the video image you see on your screen. The MPEG2 compression leaves tons of artifacts, and looks lousy.
That's because they're cramming so many separate signals onto one satellite transponder. I think the compression ratio is something like 12:1. You'll see a vast improvement when they start rolling out MPEG-4, which will help satellite companies to be able to offer more HDTV content than they already do.
The picture looks just fine to me.
We're too treed and too high a latitude for satellite to be a good option, but I see no image problem with cable. Broadcast isn't even an option. I remember when I was a kid, 10 channels of ants and 3 channels that sometimes showed up well enough if you said your prayers and banged on it in just the right spot. :~D