I am in an area with a good amount of providers. One of them, Comcast, has the following channels in basics which I am not getting in HD from DirecTV.
In order of their channel assignment (in the 200s and 300s from DirecTV):
HLN HD
GSN HD
Style HD
E! HD
HSN HD
truTV HD
LMN HD
AMC HD
TCM HD
We HD
HInt'l HD
QVC HD
iD HD
TVOne HD
GMC HD
FUSE HD
[non-premium, in the 500s] IFC HD
Formerly carried by DirecTV:
G4 HD
In premium-movies (in the 500s), the following (italics are SD screens not even carried by DirecTV; they're east-coast only):
HBOS HD
HBOF HD
HBOC HD
HBOL HD
MOmax HD
ACTmax HD
THRmax HD
5*max HD
OUTmax HD
I left Comcast for DirecTV in the late-1990s. To turn around more than 10 years later, and see them having caught up and now surpassing DirecTV with high-def basics is an example of how one must keep score if they want to be getting the best of what one can go after. I am under contract with DirecTV for a bit longer; it has to do with equipment. Now, I am not doing any upgrades because I am tracking the lineups, pricing, etc. from area providers. If DirecTV continues to fail to bring its basics in HD in line with competition, throughout 2011, there's a good chance I'll move on.