I (actually my roommate) got the dish when it first came out and we got east and west coast network feeds. It was great because we worked odd hours, we could still catch “prime time” shows off the west coast. The only time we (I) cared about what the local station was showing was when sports were being aired. We live in Delaware, and I’m a HUGE Big Ten fan (growing up in Ohio and all) so alot of times, since the affiliate we got was from down south we would get the SEC game instead of the Big Ten game. So we (I) paid extra for the college football package.
Since then he’s left and I only have local (Philadelphia) cable, but I still think it sucks. The only reason I can see is that the locals wanna sell ads and they get upset that you aren’t seeing those ads. Well, excuuuuuuuuuse me. I didn’t realize that I was watching TV for your benefit, Mr Local TV Man.
IMHO, if they can get a signal to your house you should be able to see it. Its called competition.