So you must not have a mortgage then, since homeowners insurance is required for that?
Everyone (renters and people with paid off mortgages anyhow) have the right to take on the risk of being uninsured. But that doesnt mean everyone else with property at your home intends to take the same risk.
The bad publicity from this just isnt worth a couple of hundred bucks. While I'm sure there are well defined policies and well documented web site documents for directv to follow, the corporate world is full of people that dont follow the rules. Plus I'm sure theres a subjective component that the people applying the policy use that gives them leeway. Otherwise everyone would call in and say "whoops, my receivers just burned up in a fire...let me out of my contract, ok?".