I have noticed an improvement since the deal was announced. But I mostly watch after prime time hours, usually starting around 11pm. Earlier in the year each episode would take several minutes to even be watchable. It looked like a RealPlayer from the 90s. If I rewound it would go through the same problem for a few minutes. Even at its best it never seemed to be as high in quality as it used to be. That was when I found this thread trying to troubleshoot my issues.
But now there may only be a few seconds of poor quality when the show starts and it seems to adjust very quickly. Overall it seems much better and I really wouldn't have noticed a problem if it had been like this.
I am in the Philly area so maybe I just lucked out? Using a PS3.