Anyone have big dish satellite tv?

[lucille]

We have looked at this a couple of times briefly, getting one of the next generation "big dish" satellite dishes for our TV. The reasons mainly being were really fed up with the cable providers in the area and would rather have more flexibility in what we are getting.

We have been looking at the next generation dishes, not the old c-band type they had in the 80's. The ones we have looked at are more like the big dishes you see on top of sports bars. They are the HD, digital, KU band and 4DTV dishes.

What were trying to find out is mainly about programming providers. The few I was able to find had some ala carte and some packages. We were able to get closer to the select group of channels we watch enough to merit paying for just them. But we frequently found we would be out a couple of channels we wanted and none had the same package options.

So does anyone currently run one of these? Do you know any programming provider that does totally ala carte or has quite a bit of flexibility on programming selection, better pricing?

[mbhunter]

This may be a bit ancillary to what you're asking, but can you get the shows you want for free online? I was amazed that entire seasons of some programs (like The Office) were available online. Would this work for you?

[lucille]

Originally Posted by mbhunter

This may be a bit ancillary to what you're asking, but can you get the shows you want for free online? I was amazed that entire seasons of some programs (like The Office) were available online. Would this work for you?

Nope, the current available online TV is nice but wouldn't replace what we usually watch and were looking to add availability that the big dishes have vs. our cable. I did notice that all the episodes of Jericho and Eureka were online.