Hi axx, good to see you mate :)
The underground as you call it has always been overground, they are the commercial ;) N3 ill be overcome as per the Sat scene but at a cost. Not much when it comes to paying for a full sub in comparison but it will still cost.
Others will sell boxes based on a semi-open basis and allow you to pick and choose to a certain extent. Its the ones that tie you down that are the problem and I can bet most members will guess at the supplier and model based on previous lack of support.
Others will allow a more individual choice, but to be honest cable versus sat in this type of sale is at a major disadvantage. In the UK the N3 version used is an unknown to a point, yes it is sorted to an extent in regards to CS but it has plenty of algorithms that can be used.
Why the UK and Ireland are been separated as two different entities is wrong when it comes to encryption migration should also be looked at.They are not that different by any means, given the licence they have both signed, (VM and U*C).
End of the day suppliers will look to off load boxes based on servers maintained by them. But as said what do you get on cable that you cannot get on Sat or a mix of Sat, Freeview, Freesat, analogue?
N3 means money not only for providers but for traders and suppliers.
As you can see I have fell out with quite a few of them over this ;)