>Since advertising pays for the shows' (and in some cases the channel's) existence, it would all go away... A few stations have gone off the air shortly after they first broadcast.

Which sucks - there is no other viable model to publish anything or have a service (on either web, or TV or paper) and make money on it, but via advertising. There are but a few who can do that - book writers, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, UT :) (actually UT too has ads, but they are at least not selling tampons, trucks and toothpaste).

Anyone who tries to make money selling a service on the web is outgunned by someone who will do the same for free and charge for advertising.

In the end, there will be no art.