My wife and I recently switched from Comcast's regular (non-digital) cable package to Verizon FIOS. The channel selection on Comcast's digital package was pretty comparable, but they were only willing to guarantee the package rate for cable, internet and telephone service for one year, compared to two years for Verizon FIOS. Having now enjoyed a vastly wider collection of channels, I can say that I wish we'd made the switch long ago. Just having access to BBC World News is well worth the difference in price.
We only have the basic package (no Showtime, HBO, or other premium movie channels, no specialized premium sports channels, and none of the premium non-English language channels). But we do have dozens upon dozens of channels, including CNN International (which used to astound me every time I left the U.S. for how it demonstrates that CNN is capable of being what it once was here before Lou Dobbs and the other schlock that is now the U.S. version of CNN), BBC World News and BBC America, a number of other free news and financial channels (including all 3 versions of C-SPAN and many others), a number free movie channels and free music channels, many free science and history channels.
A little while ago, I was watching a program on the BBC World News channel in which there was a discussion about the negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program. There was an observation, agreed with by all of the various foreign correspondents which wasn't at all remarkable to me, since I've known a number of Iranians and Iranian-Americans, but which one would NEVER hear on a U.S. cable channel. One of the correpondents observed that when looked at from the point of view of the Iranians, the world is a very dangerous and hostile place. They've got U.S. troops stationed to their west in Iraq, U.S. troops stationed to their northeast in Afghanistan, U.S. troops and ships stationed to their south in the Persian Gulf, an unstable, nuclear-armed, and sometimes hostile Pakistan to their southeast, a nuclear-armed Russia not far to their north, and a nuclear-armed and extremely hostile Israel within striking distance to their southwest. There followed a reasonably intelligent discussion of how this likely affects Iranian behavior.
Right now, I'm watching on the BBC World News channel a program on the Islamic History of Europe, which pointed out something that I certainly knew, but that would come as a shock to most Americans -- namely, the great flowering of culture and scientific knowledge that took place when Spain was under Islamic rule, but when Christian and Jewish cultures were also allowed to flourish, and the great influence of Islamic civilization upon the Renaissance.
Why is it that this kind of programming is aired free in so much of the rest of the world, but is relatively inaccessible to most Americans (and is seemingly NEVER on American channels)? Is it any wonder that so many Americans have an extremely insular view of the world compared to Europeans (including Brits)? Is it any wonder that those in the rest of the world know so much more about us than we do about them?
This isn't a recommendation for any particular cable company, but if it's available in your area and if you can afford it, look into the programming available on digital cable in your area for little more than you may now be paying for regular cable. In my experience, if you're interested in the world beyond the borders of the United States, it's well worth the price.