Years ago I was given a set of audio tapes with excerpts from various Executive and Business magazines. In it the then CEO of Heinz was quotes as saying "Sell them food to make them fat, so we can then sell them memberships to make them thin". He was referring to the acquisition of Weight Watchers.
You have to admit that NBC advertisers include food products, weight loss products, Gymnasiums, etc. so anything that would challenge the old way of thinking to the tune of billions of dollars is going to be a target. WLS is just that target. As more people turn away from their products and toward WLS the networks and advertisers / manufacturers will find themselves in dire straights. I know in the KC area alone probably 100,000 or more have turned to WLS. If you put a price on that, say, $10,000, it is not hard to imagine what is happening.