The changes are mostly nice but minor. I hope they are in process of doing a ui overhaul with the changes to better utilize some info.
Yeah, the DirecTV GUI layout is poorly design on most screens.
The GUI left column, at least, should be the same width on all screens. The column width should be the PIG width that's above the left column on ALL screens.
With this done, the right column can be expanded upwards on many of the screens.
Or they can reverse it. Reduce the size of the PIG to the left column narrowest width. The result to the right column is the same. It is allowed to expand upward.
With PIG controls gone, it is nothing but a small screen taking up space. Its size no longer matters.