It helps to laugh at corporate "wisdom"

So anywho, DirecTV was so desperate to have me take an upgrade to my
equipment because there was going to be some sort of change in the way I
was going to be receiving my local channels.

OK so I get the dish upgrade, my receiver stayed the same.

What they failed to mention until later was that for some F-ed up
reason, there was some stupid 2004 law or FCC rule, what have you, that
required satellite TV providers to carry local channels based on ZIP
code. What's more picayune is thanks to Nielson Media Research, they
narrow it down even further to where you live in your ZIP code.

OK, Who the Hell Made Nielsen the f-ing god mother of all media crap
that allows them to say which local channels people get?

In my case, for all of my life that I've lived in my ZIP code, Cleveland
has been our market for "local' channels. Nielsen for some reason seems
to think we should be getting Youngstown stations. OK, I'll go with that
AS LONG AS THE REST OF THE ZIP CODE PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTIES ALSO HAVE
TO CHANGE AS WELL!! Screw you, Nielsen Media Research. Your Data Is In
Serious Error.

I've never watched Youngstown stations for important stuff, except for
Browns games that were blacked out in Cleveland when they were on our
cable TV system.

So anywho, today was supposed to be the big switch. Cleveland stations
disappeared from my channel line up. I waited all day, and no other
locals have appeared on my service. No Youngstown, nothing.

If things were just left alone, I'd still have my Cleveland stations and
I wouldn't be complaining. As it is, I called DirecTV, and the nice man
on the other end tried a few things, but my channel guide still goes
from 1 to 71, 74, 77... No Local Stations. At ALL.

Now, I hate Cable. The continual rate increases (what mom would call
their Yearly Christmas Gift because that's when it happens) really left
a lot to be desired, plus being charged "regulatory" and the illegal
local kickback "franchise" fees really pissed me off. And yet I can get
local cable and they'd STILL have Cleveland stations. Due to stupid FCC
rules, however, they can't carry stations like WPGH in Pittsburgh even
though everyone around here with an antenna could, nor WTRF in Wheeling
though it and Channel 9 in Steubenville were practically like a way to
test your TV because they came in without much of an antenna at all.

I'm going to look into what I need to set up a way to receive those
digital TV broadcasts. I've been told the reach of these signals are
twice what analog was, so it should be interesting to see what I get
here, in spite of predictions by that government website.

In short, I'll probably be dropping DirecTV in March like a lead balloon
because of this crap. I really should make an effort, though, in seeing
what free over-the-air digital signals I can get.

I just have to laugh.