Using a sky digibox that is ex-contract means that you can watch all the BBC TV and Radio without even putting a card into the box. I bought a Pace Digibox from a nice chap in Manchester via Ebay, The digibox was £55 and he charged me £20 to send it to France. After that I just bought a dish and LNB from the local DIY shop, Monsieur Bricolage in Briancon, I think I paid about 60€.
It's then just a matter of putting the box into its 'signal test' mode and pointing it in the right direction. This is a very precise operation and will require you to take your TV outside so that you can get it right. Doing this with two people shouting 'left a bit, right a bit...you had it there, no its gone again!" is not the way to do it. If you think you may be doing this more than once it may be worth getting a satellite finder meter.
If you want to watch ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, CH4 & CH5 you will need a Freeview Viewing Card.