If a station survives by selling advertising, that still is only half of the equation.
A station must gain advertising revenue that is proportionate to their ongoing
expenses/purchase price.
Case in point: TV's The Cosby Show. Very successful in prime time when it was a
first run series. When it began originally in syndication (reruns, off network)
the fees charged for the rights were much higher than other syndicated fare,
available at that time. Even if a station, for example, can get double the
advertising revenue, if the price to buy the rights is triple, that show is
a loser for that station. This is not high level math involved - it is simple arithmetic...