Your exactly right, Boag, I have swapped the sat variation of these channels onto my cable bouquets, but it is a real problem for anyone that hasnt got that option, so yes getting a good provider is the only other option if you need these on your box.Always issues with ITV/STV/UTV and C4 as they are lots of little channels (for local advertising) rather than one big one for the whole UK. So less chance of it being in the cache in the server. It doesn't matter if (like me) you can get these on satellite or freeview on other tuners, but if you are relying on cable 100% it's a real bummer.
I think only a really good line (like with local cards) can be properly reliable.