I think there are some parallels here to the commercial real estate market, which is incentivized to keep rent artificially high because of the underlying fundi

I think there are some parallels here to the commercial real estate market, which is incentivized to keep rent artificially high because of the underlying funding model. If Hollywood made the content cheap and easily accessible, it would be a confirmation that the content was not that valuable, and by extension, the salaries of the people that make it would not be justified.