I gave up cable about 7 years ago, and never looked back. What helped was that the Phildelphia area had a large number of early OTA HD providers, so after buying a box I was getting HD for years ahead of the swutchover(although in the early days it was only prime time shows being broadcast in HD).
I'll confess that not having the sport channels is tough. But during baseball season my wife and I cope by going out to a local sports bar once a week. It's still cheaper than cable and it gives us an excuse to get out.