Oh man, I remember seeing those ads during J!... but not WoF (not a big fan of it at the time). But what really got me hyped was the mention of GSN during the FOX Game Show special. I finally got it in 1999 (I think), when our house switched to Time Warner Digital Cable (but only in one room!), so I was a little disappointed when somebody else wanted to use that TV.
We switched over to DTV in 2001, when there was a rebate offer for Total Choice + HBO (7 channels) + Cinemax (3 channels) + Local Channels for only $40/month + receiver fees. Today, we're still with DTV (somehow), and the package price has increased, but we're still on that rebate (somehow). BTW, don't get that HBO/Cinemax DTV package, there's not much interesting on there (although they did air Quiz Show about a year ago).
'Nuff said.