Your publishing analogy is interesting, but I would tweak it, because most of "publishing" online was free and anonymous, not paid, so the analogy to streaming

Your publishing analogy is interesting, but I would tweak it, because most of "publishing" online was free and anonymous, not paid, so the analogy to streaming video services isn't a fair one. What _has_ happened, however, is that even paid subscriptions on publishing sites such as the NY Times include ads. That's bullshit, and I really hope streaming video doesn't go that direction. Do any paid online video services NOT offer an ad-free experience now? To my knowledge they all do. Yes, Netflix has rumblings about starting an ads tier, but the OP is still correct, as far as I know, that the option for ad-free viewing still exists.