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I'd love it if my cable company would break down my bill by cost-per-channel. It would make a lot of sense, and go a long way toward deflecting criticism of the cable company for rate increases. Of course, that is only if they aren't gouging us to begin with...then disclosure would be quite uncomfortable, wouldn't it?

I'm very close to going with satellite, primarily because my viewing habits are focused on news and sports, and I can get a whole lot more of that with a dish. If cable keeps going up, I'm gone...

Just hooked up my Samsung HLN473W DLP widescreen HDTV monitor to my Samsung HD Satellite receiver this weekend. While the DirecTV HD programming is great, the receiver I bought also picks up the digital broadcast signal which had an AWESOME picture.

I was an early adopter of DirecTV (1996) and this was my first equipment replacement/upgrade.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with DirecTV. Lot's of channels, cheaper than cable with a consistently good picture. There are two downsides to DirecTV: heavy rain/snow and digital broadcasting.

The heavy rain bit is only a minor annoyance. If we get a REALLY heavy rainstorm, I loose the satelite signal for a couple of minutes. It usually comes back pretty quick. This is to be compared to my old cable company where the signal would go away for hours for no apparent reason.

Digital pictures is something we will all have to get used to because that is the way broadcasting is going. You get digital artifacts, kinda like on your computer monitor, that can be annoying. On some programs, generally the local channels that are pretty compressed, you can see boarders between two areas of color that are close but not the same. Analog does these transitions much better than digital.

Anyway, GO SATELLITE! Tell the cable operators where they can place and twist their rate increases. BTW, I get the "premium" package (all regular channels), local channels, HBO, Starz, Showtime, and Encore in three rooms for less than $80 a month.

I'd love it if my cable company would break down my bill by cost-per-channel. It would make a lot of sense, and go a long way toward deflecting criticism of the cable company for rate increases. Of course, that is only if they aren't gouging us to begin with...then disclosure would be quite uncomfortable, wouldn't it?

You answered your own question.