I've had my Standby turned off for a while now, but it still has the Yellow light for when the system is off. I don't have a Wi-fi connection, so I don't know what it's doing.
It's probably unlikely, but I'm hoping Nintendo will start releasing VC Greatest Hits packages sometime (similar to what there's doing for Xbox downloadable games).
Definitely not that low, but they could have occasional sales to go with AAA releases. That could work.
You know, back when it was still called the Revolution, I overheard a clerk in EB Games talking to one guy about how the VC setup could work, and he brought up a neat idea that i'm suprised they haven't tried yet: preorder certain games, and you can get a free download of certain VC games. Particularly, buy Metroid Prime 3 and get Super Metroid free as a bonus. Maybe they could try handing out coupons with a verification code on them or something with preorders to redeem on the Shop Channel.
I think they should've done that from the beginning, i.e. buying Twilight Princess nets you 1 free Zelda download, buying Secret Rings allows you to download Sonic 1 free of charge, etc.