The old and current model it get cable subscribers in large metro markets, whether they watch the channel or not. This is a very lucrative model right now and the reason so many small cable channels can exist. The majority of their money comes from people that never watch a single minute of their network.

If the model moves more viewer/subscription based, then conferences will really desire to have paying fans for their networks. Or the networks themselves may not even really be financially viable at that point in time.

I don't know how that would play out for BYU. BYU typically doesn't have a fan base that dishes out the big bucks. But BYU does have a national fan base and BYUtv for distribution.