No HD Super Bowl if your local affiliate and cable company can't agree

We've seen it noted in a few of the comments here, some HDTV cable subscribers having to go antenna or not at all if they want to watch the Super Bowl in high definition while their provider and the owners of local stations squabble. We know a lot of HDTV owners are sports fanatics, and so do advertisers and television companies who are determined to get every dollar they can.

This article notes a typical battle currently going on in North Carolina and other areas. We recently posted about the owner of this affiliate, Sinclair, reaching a deal in Columbus, Ohio for HDTV broadcasts. Unless someone bends unexpectedly it doesn't look like Greensboro residents can expect the same.

Is there anything customers can do when stuck like this? Switching to satellite or using an antenna isn't always feasible or desirable. I think local sports bars are at the bottom of a massive conspiracy, you heard it here first.