There is an entire website dedicated to keeping track of the compression/bit rate being used by DirecTV and it will show you what shows are being shown at what rate.
I dont recall what it is, but I am sure your friend Google can find it for you.
I wasn't talking about DISH and/or Directv -- who use MPEG-4 and various patented variable field compression Magic(tm) to reduce the bit rate even more. Or Uverse who use low bitrates and smoothing (aka "blurring") to reduce their bandwidth. (if all you watch is Uverse, you won't notice it.)
I was talking about ATSC (over-the-air) and CABLE broadcasts -- which are MPEG-2, still.
