The U.S. pay TV market is nearing a tipping point where traditional cable and broadcast television can no longer deliver reliable mass reach for advertisers — a shift that could upend the economic foundation of local and national TV advertising alike.

The Jimmy Kimmel spectacle may have grabbed headlines, but it was a sideshow compared to the real story: the accelerating obsolescence of the broadcast TV model itself.

Netflix’s disastrous week is almost certainly an occasion for other media companies to reconsider their online strategies. Should they plow ahead, betting everything on the streaming future, or slow down and sustain their legacy broadcast and cable operations as long as possible?