You know we are a highly technical audience and YC companies can advertise jobs, etc. here, right? I think that post is right, and things like cable TV or Hulu are just squeezing some money out of their product before they pass it on.
Advertising (users as products) and charging are just two characteristics that may appear in a business model together, or just one of them, or none, depending on its design. There's simply no rule that makes ¬paying ⇒ product an inevitability.
