[Nilrem]

I think it's going to end up being good for the consumer in terms of choice - but we're going to have to get used to the fact that we may not be able to get all the channels from the one company, and may need to choose which (if any) company we go with based on the one with the most channels/features we are interested in.

For example, do we go with the company with most scheduled programming, or the one with the most versatile programming?
Do we go for the one with the cheapest TV package, or the one with the best overall package?
Do we go with the best price per month but requires an initial outlay and repair costs, or the one that costs a bit more but has the equipment fully covered?

It could prove very interesting indeed over the next few years, although I fear in the short to mid term the consumer is going to take the brunt of the problems associated with the changing situation.

I'm personally hoping that Virgin will add more niche stuff to the on demand content in the future, as chances are much of it will be cheap, and because it's not viable on a normal channel (too small an audience to interest advertisers) it could pull in customers from Sky.
If they play it right the loss of however many customers due to no Sky 1 could be offset in the long run by customers after cheaper to obtain niche shows moving to cable for the on demand access to stuff they cannot watch easily elsewhere.