I wasn't actively looking to leave Dish and I haven't checked in with DirecTV. I have shared your concerns about cable. That's why I'll still have my Dish and the new digital cable service running concurrently. I can cancel withing 30 days without paying a penalty.

Charter is just starting to roll out this offer and it makes a lot of sense if the quality is equal to or close to the Dish. It gives me cost certainty (to use the term NHL owners are using these days) for 2 years, I'll get my local HD channels via the cable line instead of relying on an antenna which worked, but not great all of the time (I can go into that if you like) and I get the 2 tuner DVR that records HD.

Another bonus is the VOD function. Charter has 2 of them. One is for the premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.) and the other is for PPV. Any movie that is on a premium channel is available at any time with the VOD feature. So if no movie is on at 7:00 that you want to watch, you can go to the VOD menu and pick the movie you want to watch and watch it with full DVR type control. I know I'm starting to sound like a commercial, but I thought that was a pretty cool feature.

What remains to be seen is the PQ. I'll let you guys know what I find out. Installation is on 8-4. (To quote Inigo Montoya, "I hate waiting.") The other scary thing about switching and making a 2 year committment is that so much can change in 2 years. But for the price and with everything you get with this package, it's not a bad roll of the dice.