That was actually not due to the niceness of DirecTV or Dish Network, instead it's due to a law that went into effect 1/1/2. Aparently now if a satelite, and potentially a cable company want to carry local stations, they have to carry all of them that meet a certain spec. So that means WB and UPN for many people.

The nice thing about the potential merger is that they will be able to offer local stations for more then the top 100 TV markets.