I doubt Martin Scorsese was all that wealthy in the 80's when he started this. He was well-respected, sure, but he made art films, not summer blockbusters like

I doubt Martin Scorsese was all that wealthy in the 80's when he started this. He was well-respected, sure, but he made art films, not summer blockbusters like Spielberg and Lucas or big-time comedies, and the external revenue streams (HBO, video rental) were fewer and smaller. He was known, but he wasn't MARTIN SCORSESE like we know him today (that would probably have been Coppola). And I'm guessing most of what he was taping was news and talk shows (to get accents, styles, vernacular, etc), which would often not be kept permanently by the broadcasters, and lots of more obscure things that would be difficult to track down.