being a cheapskate, it would appear that an internet-ready HDTV and the HD antenna should take care of both local programming as well as downloaded content (movies, shows, etc).

I thought Hulu and other sites were free (or cheap) so you can download old TV series. Not sure about the commercials, Pete, but I'm with you on the saturation factor. It's about 9 minutes of adds per 30 minutes of TV

the other thing is everyone is turning off their land-line phones and using their cell (with unlimited minutes or night/weekend free) as their primary phone. A little issue that the local school districts are finding out is that the 2.5% surcharge on long distance calls from land lines isn't bringing in any more money these days, so Florida has frozen it's school construction fund...