I need 17 channels. ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, Fox, Comedy Central, Discovery, Nick1, Nick2, Disney1, Disney2, ESPN1, ESPN2, NFL Red Zone, TNT, NESN, HDNet. Might be another 1-5 channels but not dying for them. So ala carte works for me even if I am being charged $2-3 a channel. I am also able to get HD OTA for NBC, CBS, PBS, Fox so I really need ABC and 12 cable type channels. The rest is fluff that I dont have time to watch. I have Netflix and that takes care of my movie selection. Even that takes care of my kids so I could even eliminate the Nicks and Disney.
I am so close to tossing Directv but I dont have an ABC HD solution or ESPN HD and NESN HD. I would be very inclined to end my 14 year satellite run with alternatives to those channels. My Windows MCE is built out and I am storing my DVDs on the hard drive including Blu Ray and HD DVD. Supplemented with Flash videos, Hulu, Netflix on Demand, I find my need for live TV especially through Directv to be less and less.