Mike at Techdirt, our favourite tech blog ever, participated in a panel at the CATO Institute's debate on intellectual property rights and relates this anecdote from that day:

Someone from NBC Universal asked some questions...about how NBC Universal could continue to make $200 million movies like King Kong if they're supposed to be selling services instead of content. My answer was that they're already selling services instead of content. They're selling the experience of going to the movie and the convenience of the DVD among other things...

The guy at NBC Universal was asking the wrong question. Go back 100 years, and I'm sure the guy who made buggies for horse drawn buggies asked how he could continue to make buggies as the market moved on to cars. The point is that the markets change. NBC Universal shouldn't be looking on themselves as being in the $200 million blockbuster movie business -- but the overall entertainment business. Then, there are plenty of business models that make sense. Putting in place a regulatory scheme that enforces a situation to keep that one aspect of the business model alive does not make sense. Let the market decide.

The same guys who want to control whether or not you can change the channel during commercials are supposed to let the market (read: you) decide what you want out of entertainment? These guys aren't going down without a fight to protect the only thing they know, but it is a fight that they are losing.