I'm afraid it's the way things are nowadays, not only in NTL/Telewest (or whatever it's now called) but just about every company
Be honest ... when was the last time you bought anything that you could genuinely call quality. Almost everthing now has a short term lifespan - it is cheaper to make 3 of something that will last 12 months than produce one good item to last 3 years. Technology is moving at a rate which supports this method - buy something today and it's out of date in 6 months time
As far as services go it's just a merry go round, people leave one company for another, and are replaced by others moving in the opposite direction. Many are looking for that "great deal" where you get more for less - they're not bothered about how good it is, as long as they have as much as they can get.
We all inadvertantly subscribe to these market forces - Supermarkets throw deals at us (as consumers) and we gladly accept their cheap prices. But those cheap prices mean the manufacturers have to make those products cheaper by either using lower quality (cheaper) materials, cutting back on skilled (higher paid) labour, or reducing budgets for maintenance/repair of existing machinery.
Yes the shareholders take their slice of any cake available, but if its only a small cake there's only a few crumbs left for anything else. Skim 20% off the top of £1000 and its peanuts all round. Skim 20% off £100,000 and there's something left to work with. I'm not advocating we should all pay £100 a month for 4 mb broadband, but I'm willing to bet there are many who would gladly pay more for a better quality product/service. The trouble is that the majority won't ....