Television was seen as ephemeral and if they never intended to broadcast it again then there was no need to store thousands of feet of tapes for episodes that (

Television was seen as ephemeral and if they never intended to broadcast it again then there was no need to store thousands of feet of tapes for episodes that (they believed) would never be wanted again. A lot of big band music was lost because the band leaders were against recording music, whether for phonograph or radio. It was supposed to be a a philosophical objection, but I suspect they also didn't want to put themselves out of business.