The screenwriter's strike is a manifestation of the entertainment cartels' desperate need to ratchet down costs. The bone of contention is streaming, with the moguls trying to cut the pay of writers for same. The writers are outside the black box with the rest of us (even showrunners are denied any objective metrics for how their streaming shows are doing by Netflix) so they think they're being ripped off. It's possible that streaming is just that much less lucrative than pay cable and broadcast were in the golden age of couch potatoes.