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I will attempt to bring this thread back to the realm of books via a short discussion of music, a subject that I am much more familiar than television.
Before the advent of audio recordings, musicians were employed in all sorts of venues, such as hotels, to provide entertainment. Many of these venues replaced live music with recordings. Today a musician has to compete with his peers, and with the recordings of his predecessors.
Live musical performance may be likened somewhat to a bard telling a tale. Books are roughly analogous to recordings. These days an author would be hard pressed to earn a living reading his works to a 'live' audience. When a new book is published it competes with all of the books that are extant. With the advent of the internet, things just don't go away, and tons of old books are readily available. To sell new books, publishers must rely more on advertising.
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