Question about Media Center PCS and some other stuff!

[Factor7]

So long story short my parents are tired of cable and the prices of it, after a little research i've came about the media center PC and the Apple TV. Few questions, in there house they have multiple TV's. One for there room, one in the living room and one in the basement, now I don't want to convince them but I want to show them that there is a better way but I'm having a hard time figuring out how you could get all this stuff other then netflix or pirating it.

The question(s) are:
Can one media center PC be used to run multiple TV's at once?
Whats the deal with the Apple TV can I get essentially free TV and pay for movies or do I have to pay for the shows also?
How would I get the shows, movies and live sports? (My dad watches A LOT of hockey so live HD hockey would matter)

They're not down for paying like 160$ a month (current bill + internet) for TV and a low internet speed's. So an alternative would be amazing and any input on alternatives would be amazing!

-F7!

[lockblock]

I use my Htpc on multiple displays but watching 2 different shows/movies at once isn't ideal. Also getting audio to output on both of them at once can be a pain on windows7.
Far as I know the only free shows you can get are the ones provided by the networks or individual film makers on their website via flashplayer.
That being said your choices are pretty limited unless you have a very limited selection of shows that all happen to be streamed on the net.
Lasty most of this free content is riddled with just as many ads as regular tv and picture quality is pretty low.

Overall you wont find a solution that eliminates the bill short of watching it at a friends.
Heres hoping to the fcc forcing tv providers to sell an ala carte package some day.