The other option, which obviously doesn't work for mega-corporate media, is independent, direct support (patreon, etc). Most of my favorite modern content is created in this way, and is entirely free to download and distribute - contribution is entirely optional.

problem is that greedy media moguls want to get paid for a piece of content forever, instead of just raising enough money to cover the labor and advertising, give stakeholders some profit, and move on, so they cannot exist this way.

That is their problem though :)