Oh, you're right that quality, etc. are important as well. I'm not sure that medium should be, though. For example (and I'm not just flattering you here), I found Brave Men Run far more engrossing and entertaining than the last Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. (Your examples may vary, but I bet most people can find something similar.)

But even if we're taking quality and track record into account, that still equates to paying for entertainment value, not production costs.

Regarding people expecting lower prices over the internet … yeah. That's a problem that I don't have an easy solution to.

(Factored the former into the followup post, by the way.)