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Originally Posted by OLD BOY
Obviously you have a very low opinion of the intelligence of the British public!
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On this particular subject, yes.
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The point is, with the digital switchover and the growing number of people with HD sets, curiosity about what HD actually is will grow, and advertising this will also help.
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That's certainly a possibility, but a hypothetical future demand and/or curiosity will not lose Virgin customers at this stage.
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Personally, I think if VM don't go for this now they will lose a lot of viewers.
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I wish you were right, but you're not. Not for a long while, anyway.
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And as for the 'no evidence that this is the case' proposition - have you actually seen any surveys on this subject? Nor have I, but I've seen a lot of posts on this and other forums.
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Yes, I have. I have also seen surveys highlighting the utter and profound cluelessness about HD in this country, as well as the potentially deliberate misinformation campaign employed by retailers in order to convince gullible consumers that an HD set is exactly what they need for Freeview. The reality is that most people buy plasmas and TFTs for prestige and aesthetics, not for HD.
You're getting a skewed perspective from reading forums like this, which obviously attracts more informed consumers... or somewhat more informed, at least.
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The thing is, a successful operator will create the demand anyway. Look at Sky! VM just aren't trying.
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Sky's HD customer base is still relatively small, and I'm sorry to say, you could probably switch at least half of those people's picture to SD, and they wouldn't notice the difference. They'd still go on about how it's like "looking out of a window".
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Definitately, could do better. 
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I agree. If you're interested in HD, you're kind of screwed with Virgin.