I have basic cable on all 4 TV's in my house, though I only use it in the kitchen really, and on 2 of the TV's I have DirecTV with local channels. It is far better then cable in sound and picture quality. The menus are far better then digital cable too. I pay $100 per month for DirecTV with 2 recievers and all stations. I also have an Over The Air antenna to pick up my local channels in High Definition. I don't know why DirecTV can't broadcast them in High Def yet. Only HBO and HDNet are high def on DirecTV. I will never go back to cable.