Compared to what my co-workers get with digital cable, satellite is definitely the way to go. I get nearly twice as many channels for roughly the same monthly fee. And the systems are cheap now...one company was giving the equipment away for free if you signed up for a year's programming.

We lose the signal about once or twice a month for maybe 1/2 hour at a time. And installing the dish is easy, don't bother with "professional" installation. If I can do it (and I did, pulling in a signal at 90% strength) anyone can do it.

However, if you live just outside an urban area, you may not be eligible to get the 3 big networks, no matter what package you get. As far as I'm concerned, that's a minor annoyance, given that Discovery, Discovery Wings, and Science come in nice and clean. Oh yeah, and Cartoon Network too :-)