I'm an America who lives in the UK and I have yet to use any sort of cable/sat provider since moving here.
Setup: Acer Aspire Revo - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225756 £300 + Loaded with Boxee + Proxied to an old laptop at my parents house in the US
Services I use: 1. NFL overseas Gamepass package (~$250 for whole season) - every game in full HD (yes literally just as good as watching it on cable HDTV...NO JOKE) 2. Hulu (via proxy) 3. Netflix (via proxy) 4. BBC (awesome programming) -> BBC iPlayer