Actually, I think we can pretty conclusively say that it is false. The value of the medium of video is such that it would have been used no matter what type of

Actually, I think we can pretty conclusively say that it is false. The value of the medium of video is such that it would have been used no matter what type of copyright exists and people would have found ways to make money in that industry. A different form of copyright or a complete lack of copyright would certainly result is a significantly different move and TV industry that produced different types of content, but it would almost definitely still exist. Edit: Two clear examples of types of business models that are much less reliant on copyright are BBC and PBS.