You're right, you don't understand. TV used to be ad supported and then broadcasters got greedy. Ever wonder why the broadcasters might work on this with the cable companies rather than eliminate them from the equation? Because almost all of a subscriber's monthly bill goes to the broadcasters. I work for a major cable company and let me tell you how it works. If you pay $50 per month for 60 channels, that all goes to broadcasters. Big networks like NBC might get $2-3, while BET or G4 might get 25 cents. The money is made by pay-per-view, service calls, local ads and being an internet/phone provider.
NBC and FOX are looking at stuff like hulu but they see that the ads alone aren't going to give the same money. The good news here though is a few years from now you might be able to pick from several internet based cable providers rather than just getting stuck with whoever you have locally. Even though they'd still be you ISP.
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You're right, you don't understand. TV used to be ad supported and then broadcasters got greedy. Ever wonder why the broadcasters might work on this with the cable companies rather than eliminate them from the equation? Because almost all of a subscriber's monthly bill goes to the broadcasters. I work for a major cable company and let me tell you how it works. If you pay $50 per month for 60 channels, that all goes to broadcasters. Big networks like NBC might get $2-3, while BET or G4 might get 25 cents. The money is made by pay-per-view, service calls, local ads and being an internet/phone provider.
NBC and FOX are looking at stuff like hulu but they see that the ads alone aren't going to give the same money. The good news here though is a few years from now you might be able to pick from several internet based cable providers rather than just getting stuck with whoever you have locally. Even though they'd still be you ISP.