A few years ago I wanted to be able to receive NASA-TV via satellite but without buying any satellite service. I went to one of the big electronic stores in town and tried my best to buy a dish and receiver but they wouldn't sell it to me without also buying a "plan". A few days later Sears had a sale on a Dish Network setup and they were willing to sell me the equipment without having to purchase a plan.
I installed it all and was able to receive NASA-TV and a few "shopping" channels without any other subscription.
We have since moved and I haven't put the dish back up but likely will one of these days.
FWIW, I also tried the whooda.com link mentioned here and with the flip4mac plug-in installed it plays very well on my Powerbook (OSX) - thanks for pointing that link out as it looks much better than the Real links via Yahoo, etc.
73, Jeff