GameboyRMH wrote: The problem really comes down to unlimited greed. In the early days of TV it was broadcast for free and then ads paid for it, then subscription fees came in, then pay per view, now product placement and content dilution (making shows painfully slow-paced and reusing content to lower production costs)...there's no point where they'll make "enough" money from a show.
Not trying to be rude, but you have zero idea about what you are talking about. In the early days of TV, you had a few channels and huge viewerships. You could charge big bucks for the ads that you could place as you had a captive audience and advertisers willing to pay to reach them. Except for the Superbowl and a few high rated shows on network, those days are LOOOONNNG gone. In fact, the days of networks paying you a fee to broadcast your program are in many cases gone as well. There are so many channels and the other advertising avenues that TV is not what it once was.
To make matters worse, networks no longer provide the production facilities and manpower to most shows that they air, especially non-broadcast networks. And in many cases, you MUST purchase the air time as well. Now, add to this that the commercial revenue also goes to the network, and the show itself is left with little ability to create revenue of it's own. That's where product placement comes in. It's one of the few areas you have absolute control over these days.
Let me make this a bit clearer. If you want to advertise on the say the Big Bang Theory, you're probably going to spend several hundred thousand for a 30 second spot. If you want to advertise on Wayne's show, it may cost you 10 bucks. Don't believe me, call your local cable company and ask. The national commercials are most likely network commercials where they have a contract, and probably command more, but it is highly doubtful Wayne and his crew see any of that, or if they do, it won't be much. Even so, it's probably not a lot even to the network. You pay by how many viewers you reach, and shows like this regrettably don't pull huge numbers, so advertising is cheap.
Making money in TV is a tough situation these days, and if you think it's greed, you are sadly mistaken. It's difficult for networks and TV shows. At one point we had 18 shows of different types. We even looked at producing an auto related show and placing it on Speed or Discovery, and we saw no real way to make it profitable, or for that matter, even difficult to break even. You need to use it as a marketing tool and consider it a loss. Think about what's out there. You have Barry Maguire promoting his products, Wayne promoting his shop, Foose promoting his shop, etc., etc.
Before you start throwing out the ever popular "greed" tag, you need to understand what you are talking about, and be grateful that they are finding a way to at least stay on the air.
