I've been a DirecTV subscriber since around 1997, which, you may recall, was a few years before the ubiquitous satellite dishes started popping up on people's roofs. An an early adopter I'm a big believer in DirecTV's value, even though the signal goes out in heavy thunderstorms, even though I can't get the local forecast on the Weather Channel, even though the HD offering is well behind the curve. Well, until now.

After months of promises, the boys at DirecTV have finally gotten with the program, so to speak. Twenty-one new HD channels just launched, with more on the way, all part of a program to have 100 HD channels by the end of the year.

I've been resisting the move to HD because to this point I couldn't justify $2,000 for a TV that picks up 9 HD channels. Today, all that would keep me from making the move is the need for a new dish (necessitating a service call to get it on my roof, and thus an afternoon spent "working from home") and giving up my superior TiVo box in favor of DirecTV's proprietary DVR, a less intuitive interface.

Time to make the move? Could be ... could be.