Wait a second
two posts by you and Robert commiserating on how the profit motive and greed are wrecking things
Technology never exists in a vacuum, it's always used by somebody, and how they use it is a legitimate part of any discussion of technology. In this case the answer to ER's question about what's causing picture degradation is that it's not inherent in the technology, it's a matter of how the owners of the technology are choosing to use it. And why do they choose to use it in a way that's detrimental to the quality of their product? To maximize profit from a fixed-size infrastructure and avoid or delay investing in infrastructure upgrades.
Look at it as analogous to firearms technology: Compression doesn't kill the picture, it's the way people use/misuse compression kills the picture.