Well i'm not in the over 50 category I have to believe that ad execs and broadcasters NEED to change their thinking on this. In 10-20 years the avg. age of Americans is going to be significantly higher then it is today. The slice of the pie for the sexy 18-35 demo is going to shrink. They'll need to find revenue streams elsewhere.
As for programming well CBS did have quite a few years where they catered to an older audience with DALLAS, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Murder She Wrote and later on with Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and that show with Dick Van Dyke. Oh and Walker, Texas Ranger. So it's not like a network can't survive on older programming.
The fear of having an older audience did kill the Hunter revival with Fred Dryer a few years back. The show had very good ratings but NBC canceled it only because the demo skewed into the 40s and 50s. "sigh"
Over Fifty
Well I'm 53 and I think that most TV Shows and advertisements are meant for a younger audience. Most of what is on TV is crap. The younger generation has no idea what TV was like, (dare I say-"back in the day") They have 24 hr. TV. We had our TV channels end their day at 11:30 or Midnight and in Black and White. The only thing on late in N.Y. was The Late Show or The Late-Late Show.(That's were I found my love for Classic Films.) What TV has for our age demographic at night is Paid Programs, so we can: be young, act young or look younger. There use to be a time when we respected our elders now the media treats us like we have a disease(and they can cure it ,if you buy this!!!) Sooner or later someone will comprehend this. Hopefully sooner than later. I think and hopefully, everyone here thinks 50 is the new 30 
vallo
vallo
"We're all forgotten sooner or later. But not films. That's all the memorial we should need or hope for."
-Burt Lancaster
-Burt Lancaster