The Dish Comes Down!

One reason that I sort of stopped caring about IndyCar racing as the season wore down was that I have a big, grey, round, concave thing on my deck, pointing at the sky, with the word "DirecTV" printed on it. Instead of the final races, my TV showed details of the high school-level catfight that DirecTV and Comcast over the broadcasting fees for the VERSUS network.

Don't get me wrong, I was decently happy with DirecTV the whole time I had it (lack of VERSUS notwithstanding). Picture quality was pretty good, channel lineup was good, and the thing that everyone points at as the chief disadvantage of satellite television -- signal going out with the slightest wisp of cloud -- was only a problem in the absolute worst weather. Most importantly, DirecTV was not Comcast: a compay I absolutely refuse to give my money to.

For some time, Comcast and the dishes were my only options for getting a TV signal to my house, and since Comcast stinks and didn't carry the Big Ten Network, my choice was pretty simple. At one point, though, some fellows in an AT&T truck rolled by and threw some nice fiber-optic cable into the lines around my building, which meant I suddenly had another option.

Looking over the available packages for AT&T U-Verse, I saw one that was similarly-priced to the DirecTV package I have, and had nearly the exact same channel lineup but for one key channel: AT&T has VERSUS.

It's fitting that, as i write this, I am wearing a Washington Capitals jersey, because hockey is big reason #2 that I wanted VERSUS so badly. Big reason #1: On March 14, 2010, I will be firmly parked in front of my TV to watch the IndyCars take to the streets of Sao Paulo.

See you there, folke!