"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
Actually, broadcasting is the cheapest part of the whole thing. The really expensive part is all the massive overhead built into the station, from the variety of managers - and let's be honest, an intern could likely do a better job of most program manager's jobs, all overpaid with high six figure salaries. Ad execs who could easily be replaced by a shared Google calendar to determine ad placements.
The whole creation is bloated and unwieldy, and really representative of the entire dinosaur media culture. As for the programs themselves - most of the prime time high ticket dramas are no longer solely supported by ad revenue, as there just isn't the audience there anymore. They're off watching American Idol or 24, not whatever Grey's Anatomy spinoff or clone is being broadcast. Fox News Channel has beat some of the prime time dramas, and that's a pretty good feat.
And then there's the worst nightmare for a broadcaster - a Tivo. Zip, zip, zip - right past those commercials! They finally get paid to put them on the air after consulting the oracle of the rate card, and the bloody audience isn't watching the 900th repetition of a Viagra advertisement.
If ABC goes dark tomorrow and is only on cable, there'll be another person ready to take up that broadcast license and run with it. All that's happening right now is saber rattling from the powers that don't want things changed. They want that money train to keep on chugging along, and advertisers, and consumers, are ready to get off at the next stop.
And the ads insult us with the word “holiday” substituted for Christmas and repeated endlessly. The heck with them.