Well, I checked other HD channels and didn't see any evidence of the "artifacts" that I observed watching Lost last night. Experts don't agree about digital signal loss and its connection with HD picture quality. Some say, you either get the signal or you don't; any image quality issues you experience can't be from a weak digital signal. Others disagree, maintaining that signal strength can indeed affect your picture quality. I'm not sure what camp I'm in, though I see merit in the "you either get the signal or you don't" faction.
Nevertheless, Lost looked like crap last night. I had never seen such a lousy HD picture on my set before that. In addition, I noticed it immediately. Couple that experience with the fact that I couldn't get three or four other HD channels to replicate the artifacts, and I come away with the preliminary conclusion that either AT&T sent a weak digital signal for that particular episode or ABC somehow messed something up.