If you assume in advance that the same number of people will either tune in live or watch a stream non-synchronized, you may have a point. The problem is, once

If you assume in advance that the same number of people will either tune in live or watch a stream non-synchronized, you may have a point. The problem is, once you account for the liveness also making it so fewer people tune in, it's not clear to me it's a win. I haven't been beholden to a TV schedule in... ummm... about seventeen years, I think? 2003 sounds about right for my first TiVo. (I was fresh out of college and still affected by the bubble burst, I had to wait for them to come down in price quite a bit.) The only thing I watch live are the occasional sports program and SpaceX launches. Having an actual schedule certainly shoots my personal interest to zippo in this particular product. If I can go back and watch things, which is not at the moment clear to me, then there's at least a possibility that I would become interested enough in some particular thing to tune in live. But if live viewing is the only option, you're never going to get my attention.