IMO, there's plenty of good tv, just not at human hours. You'll need a TiVo to properly net the content for normal hours of consumption.
When I first got the treadmill and the TV (specifically to watch while on the treadmill) I got cable TV with ALL the chanels and a DVR. You might call it TiVo Lite: all the functionality but only memory for 5 or 6 movies (which was plenty). I never found anything worth watching. I never watched what was on at the time I was watching, because I exercise in the morning. I spent the last 5 minutes of my workout searching the listings for 2 or 3 things to record for the next day's workout. It always ended up being movies from the premium movie chanels (which don't interrupt the movie for commercials). There just weren't any programs worth watching. And the movies weren't much better. I may end up just buying one of those DVDs of pretty scenery going by.