If that were true 80-90% of the cable channels would have disappeared since they are complete garbage that very few watch. It's all about the "We offer more crap channels than the competitor" mentality. Unfortunately, only mandated al a carte and structured programming paks will help get rid of the hundreds of useless (my opinion mind you) channels polluting the airwaves (i.e. I don't want my subscription dollars subsidizing some goofy Sci-Fi channel I don't watch only to be forced into subscribing to higher tier package just to receive Bloomberg TV and one or two other channels). The bottom line is that our dollars will go most likely continue to subsidize the same garbage channels in HD that we currently don't watch in SD. A larger concern is there will be even more bad programming fodder wasting value bandwidth and further diluting our HD experience. As much as I like VOOM, it should be add-on subsciption charge...just like all the other channels.
Unfortunately, you are being swindled; you are paying for HD, not HD-Lite, and are being duped into paying for something you [hopefully] did not order. On the rare occasion that I order a fast-food hamburger, I want it fresh off the grill and I expect it to look like the delicious entree depicted on their sign, and taste just as good to me as to the person enjoying it in their commercials. Sorry, but if I get a cold, flattened, grotesquely formed burger then it's going back. Sadly, DishHD is quickly becoming the fast-food of HD and is rapidly becoming unpalatable. Most people who appreciate HD (the real stuff...not the washed-out artifact-filled substitute) and can switch to FiOS TV will do so when available. I know that I will. However, there are just too few quality programming choices and, unfortunately, the crap being served up on DishHD these days is slightly more palatable and affordable then what is being offered up by competition.
Not until next year.
