We dumped Direct about a year ago. We went with a TIVO, Netflix the plan without DVD’s and Amazon Prime (we use the shipping feature a lot) we have 2 ROKU's and very little problems with streaming video's. Give Netflix a try with the one month free trial. I don't watch sports or reality shows so I don't miss Direct at all, I actually watch little TV but what we do watch now is much better- there are some great old shows out there and maybe we are a season or two behind on Madmen but that’s OK too.
Our bill went from 100.00 a month to 16.00 ( TIVO had a lifetime subscription for 499.00 so that was paid for the first 5-6 months of no direct)
JMHO