Like anything - if you produce enough DVDs you can get them very cheaply. I write, shoot, edit and produce them as part of my job. We do everything in-house so it doesn't cost as much as having a camera crew (or several like the AFC) , a production house where the sound track is produced and the video edited and the DVD authored. (Yep, you have to tell the DVD player what to do when the chapter buttons are pressed etc and that is encoded in the track). You can produce a pretty good looking DVD and packaging for around a dollar, but that's without all the other costs to produce the video footage that's on it.
When it comes to advertising, I don't see the real difference between paying $100 odd bucks a month for the top Foxtel HD package, buying a magazine or a newspaper for between 5 and 12 bucks, or paying a subscription for a web facility like Ausfish. You are still paying to be exposed to advertising. Let's face it if it wasn't for the ads you probably wouldn't see the TV, Magazines or whatever - you wouldn't be able to afford them if the advertisers didn't pay good money to be in them. The cost to produce them would be too high. And when you look at prices for Tackle - don't forget you're also paying part of the cost towards the advertising, sponsorships, and PR activities for every company that makes fishing gear. In reality by buying fishing gear - you're paying the company to advertise to you so you can go and buy more of their products...and pay more.....etc.
Nice can of worms been opened up here - interesting isn't it!!!