For really limited plans, depending on where you live, you might be able to get cable for under $20 and you will get all the local HD channels with no extra compression. In some markets, you can also get other HD channels if they are not encrypted. For example, my buddy gets even Discovery HD, ESPN HD by just using a QAM tuner built into his TV and he just pays for the basic analog package with Time Warner cable (under $20).
It all depends on what else you want to watch.
DirecTV also has international packages for which they want you to get a base package. This base package only costs $9.99. Look into it.