Reality TV is all about UNION BUSTING (in the article they gloss over it with "saving on production costs&quot . So not only do they not have to pay union crew, they don't have to pay union actors residuals either. The execs have known for years that reality tv loses out on syndication, which used to be the golden egg for any show. They turned away from that because they just loved paying the people who actually made the show shit and gave huge deals to the "creators" like Mark Burnett. Same theory we see at work in the corporations: pay the CEO huge salary and everyone else as little as possible while working them like slaves, and who cares if the product you turn out is crap. So we'll see if the networks figure it out any time soon.

content and the new powers at the new outlets don't like reality TV because they very correctly see that it limits their income streams while placing the reputation of their brand into the hands of random individuals who are being presented as real and chosen by the brand.
The larger competition shows, such as Survivor, are not more lucrative than good narrative TV for the networks that make them. Amazing Race costs a fortune to produce. The cheaper shows like TLC shows, well, the inherent brand risk with that sort of thing is very apparent this week. Touching Little Children Channel. Very tainted brand.
Top of this season, Fox put huge sums of money into 'Utopia' a reality show they planned to air twice a week for the first year while selling subscriptions to 'live feed content'. The show drew zero audience, did not survive for two months and left gaping holes for Fox to deal with in their weekly lineup.

With HBO and Showtime, their original shows meant you had to pay a subscription to see it. That brought loyal customers who paid while their favorite shows were running. Shows like The Sopranos were HUGE money makers for that network, but they were still small potatoes compared the the major TV networks because of advertising and sponsorships.

I'll tell you, I would be more than happy to see the death of reality TV. That, outsourcing and H1B visas killed my career basically and forced a lot of us out of the business. It wasn't worth it to work those hours for no money and no benefits. But I know that reality TV like the crap shows on TLC bring in beaucoup bucks from advertisers and merchandising if they are successful and don't cost much it they aren't so they aren't going anywhere yet. The CEO of Discovery Channel (owns TLC) is one of the highest for CEOs in the world:

ordinary people bickering and staring at each other still remains a mystery to me.