Maybe thinking about your question from the other side would help? Imagine you desired to make your living by producing new content, applications or services. Who and what would be the biggest recurring expenses? Are those costs prohibitive to your success?

Or another way to think about it, "What did the advent of inexpensive uprocessors (or MIPs) enable?"

I'll suggest "structural separation", decoupling bit distribution from content production, is a necessary component if a real broadband world is to enable new, and interesting, suppliers.