i've got the slingbox and it works just fine. make sure the place you have it setup in the states has a router that doesn't go down. otherwise it'll work just fine.
orbit offers espn, and they play all the college and nfl games, and orbit also have nba tv for those games. neither of the packages offer cbs/abc/fox/nbc, you'll need the slingbox for that, or just download them off bit torrents.
good luck