Emailed Tesla Cust Service for an update and got the following response - basically nothing has changed regarding this:
“Thanks for your patience here, we realise it has been sometime without an update. This is currently with our senior leadership team in the US and you will be informed on any changes that are made. But, currently, Tesla have not changed their position and so, unless we inform you otherwise, you will need to subscribe to maintain Premium Connectivity.
We realise that you will not welcome this feedback and would like to assure you that this is being provided as feedback from yourself and multiple equivalent owners. We will come back to you with additional information, once it is available.”