sub prime

Foremeost, having to strike for 4 months for a very, very, very small piece of the pie is not exactly victory. Most people call it a job and the portions keep getting smaller and the ingredients less natural and more saccharine. Secondly, the Hollywood moguls behind AMPTP could care less the quality of work delivered to you via the airways, which in case you have forgotten, the people own, and the corporations rent. Corporations care about the bottom line and the moguls that run them call that a job and fat-cat bonuses are growing, not shrinking.
And therein lies the problem. We've a warring culture where sides have to win or lose, so mostly everyone bloodies themselves senseless until it's time to call a temporary truce. Then everyone returns to work, but fundamentally very little changes. The internet, which by sheer volume alone of transmissions by THE PEOPLE, has the capacity to render such battles less relevant, is increasingly falling victim to assaults by the corporate media as well as the people's lack of due diligence in keeping themselves informed via content outside the mainstream or, as importantly, living a life devoid of celebrity. If the celebrities in your life aren't your friends and family then all victories are for naught because you'll never be able to contextualize them within the confines of your life.
Media giants have the resources, the brains, and the track record to recognize a good thing when they see it. This has the effect of bringing things back to the center and in most cases diluting them down to the lowest common denominator, which seems to suit many people's taste. This sounds a bit like politics because it is politics. To paraphrase an old saw, Money does as money sees.