Before those entities, the broadcasters knew the value of it. Back in the day, before remote controls, we actually watched the commercials. Broadcasters have been paid a pretty penny for out attention. Look at what a Superbowl ad goes for....the attention of 80 million people is worth a pretty penny for 30 seconds.

Now we are in the pay us economy...they want our attention, it has a price for advertisers. No longer are we obligated to let someone else profit off it.