We have Digiturk which is great for US comedy, sport and some nature programmes. It also shows old US x factor and US got talent etc. We don't watch it much now and of course very little in the summer.
I do download from BBC i player and then watch the programmes through the TV (by plugging in with hdmi cable) this will avoid the buffering problem.
Another option is to download via a torrent download site such as thepiratebay.com or isohunt. We transfer the download onto a media player attached to the TV and that avoids having to plug the computer in. You can get all sorts of stuff that way - films, tv series (The Sheild, Game of Thrones, Desperate Housewives) in fact anything that is on TV really (the more current it is the more likely you will be able to download it quickly)
Haven't gone down the full satellite package route yet to get say forces tv which shows a version on BBC and ITV, but am sure someone has already talked about this on a previous thread.