Quote Originally Posted by topspeed
The network programs that are in HD will be available through DirectTV (as well as Dish) starting 1 qtr '06. Unfortunately, while the salesperson at Direct told me they were available now, the installer said otherwise and now I have to get an antenna. It's $50 so no biggie, but I wish they'd get their info right.
Actually, they might both be right. When I looked into this last year, I think that Directv was offering the national network feeds for CBS and Fox (?) to people who live in areas without local digital broadcast affiliates. That might have changed since now most local stations have their digital broadcasts up and running (the federal mandate only requires digital broadcasts, not HD).

Directv used to include the national network feeds for CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox on their regular service, and then a court ruling forced them to remove that service. A subsequent change allowed them to rebroadcast local stations, and I believe that the HD stations that Directv's due to add to their channel offerings will likely originate from local stations. If the rollout goes like it did when they started adding the local broadcasts to their service, then the first stations will come from major market affiliates, then the midmarkets after that. Not sure if the national broadcast feeds are part of Directv's HD plans.