When we lived in Belgium, we primarily used a Slingbox that we setup at my brother's house in the US. He obtained a separate DirecTV DVR box for us so that we could record shows and watch them on our own time. It is very important to have fast internet connections on both ends or the quality is poor to unwatchable.

We also occasionally used justin.tv and channelsurfing.net. Quality isn't great and the feeds can disappear, but at least gave us a chance to watch some live American sporting events.