<i>He cited statistics that showed how much people are willing to pay for media content: $5 an hour to watch movies, 75 cents an hour reading books, magazines, and newspapers and 25 cents for every hour of Internet use.</i><p>There's an awfully big difference between "willing to pay" and "will actually pay".<p>What statistics are he citing, anyway?
None of those numbers add up.<p>$5/hour to watch a movie - $10 per movie. A number too low for watching in theaters or buying the DVD. A number way too high to rent a movie. A number insanely high to watch it on TV.<p>$.75/hour to read a book: A ~200-300 page book would take you 7-8 hours to read. So thats $6/book. Seems like way too low, compared to what people are willing to py.<p>$.25/hour internet use: that means an always on connection would run you $180/mo.
And they should. I know there is, no matter how small, a market that is willing to pay to not see commercials.<p>The quoted prices are way too high, but with an iTunes like model we could see very different shows from those supported by advertising. Or more likely cerebral shows, which were canceled in the past, would now be supported by direct buys.