Before moving back to Louisiana, I'd had DirecTV in Alabama for years. No service provider is perfect, of course, but DirecTV was one of the least painful utilities to deal with, and that's saying something.

I have Eatel now (a tiny local provider, but basically same thing as AT&T U-Verse) and they're pretty good, if a little pricey, but it sure beats Cox.

Well, dispute settled.

Watching Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! as we speak.

ALL THIS B.S. WAS DirectTV's fault!
For years they've held the entire industry hostage because they owned major satellites and kept increasing charges to cable providers.

Of course they come into the same markets with their own branded service as similar prices and the war ensued.

Viacom is now owned by a LOT of ticked off people who have had to deal with DirectTV's B.S. and price gouging for years. Viacom has been gobbling up networks left and right, and has now ordered 20% of the market (which they own) to NEVER user the DirectTV feeds or transmit through them.

Therefore, no more DirectTV monopoly.

Now the chickens have come home to roost and DirectTV has to pay BIG TIME to license the Viacom networks. That course will, of course, eventually trickle down to the consumers.