I only want the five basic channels, and if the quality remains as good as it is at present I think £4 a month is quite reasonable. 11 000 people using the service seems a reasonably high number, if Virgin are getting £44 000 a month that should (surely!) be enough to keep the basic service running.
Where do you get that 10 -15 year lifespan from? Are you including LCD TVs in that estimate? That should drag the average down
I've known many people who've had CRTs longer than that.
The 11k out of 65k number might just as easily indicate that too many people are too easily swayed by modern trends, and by newness for the sake of newness, and by Murdoch's 'never mind the quality feel the width' approach.
P.S. I wish VM would provide a better BBC radio 3 & 4 signal... if someone offered that I might change...