Television only exists because of the commercials, and that’s always how it has been. Thoughts???

"What you need to remember is that television only exists because of the commercials, and that’s always how it has been. Consciously, we all know this; unconsciously, we sort of convince ourselves otherwise. When we think about TV, we tend to think of TV shows; we think about programming. But if you think about TV as a semi-random collection of advertisements that are simply connected by constructed narratives, it starts to seem like a very dangerous business model. Underwriting these increasingly expensive shows is earning companies less and less money. At some point in the very near future, companies will realize this business practice is not cost effective, so they’ll just stop underwriting everything. There won’t be anyone to pay for these shows, so there simply won’t be any programming." ~ Excerpt from the book Chuck Klosterman on Film and Television Already happening with TV isn't it?? I don't understand the trps and business aspect. It would be nice to have some perspective though. Anyone has any knowledge? What are your thoughts?