"The paradox is this: content will only stay behind a paywall if it is shitty. If it's good, someone will set it free."
Discussion
Still has costs to store content online
That seems incorrect. There are reasons someone may not want to share. It may provide a competitive advantage, even temporary. Value is entirely subjective.
Paywalls can provide early access at best, but most people are incredibly confused about that fact. Financial data and OnlyFans are good examples.
Netflix et al sell convenience and fantastic service (search, history, personalization, etc) - not files.
What you can sell is access to a gated community, which isn't a file. Twitch does it right. Most people are still trying to sell files (read: JPGs), which is madness.
More precisely, access to a file. A file can be both a non-economic good, of which the quantity of it far exceeds any need for it, and an economic good through limited access.
Using non-free software to accomplish that I think is very deceptive and is another topic.