Much of the population isn't economically able to purchase all the media they watch. The Silicon Valley 'everything free' experience doesn't exist in a vacuum,

Much of the population isn't economically able to purchase all the media they watch. The Silicon Valley 'everything free' experience doesn't exist in a vacuum, it's in an environment where there's an overwhelming majority of people who are only able to pay with their time and attention. Which is the Star Trek model. It's the future of 'nobody has to work to eat, and so now people go insane trying to pursue popularity since survival's a solved problem'. That makes it interesting in its own right, and we can already see both the possibilities and the 'race to the bottom' factor that ensues.