In saying that 4wd action claim they can spend up to $100k per DVD
let me tell you how... "someone else" in the that game does it. I know this from very personal experience...
TV networks have to, by law, show a certain % of "locally produced" shows each week/month etc.
4wd personality approaches them and says "I'll give you 8 x 1hour episodes of locally produced content for
free, plus I can get ad content to fill the ad breaks"
TV network loves this. No cost to them. They have re-run rights for the off season and they satisfy their requirement for local content.
4wd personality (who may wear a hat) then approaches 4wd vehicle company, camper trailer company and accessory company and says "hey I can get you on network TV every week with an audience exposure of around whatever-hundred thousand viewers... just give me free vehicle/trailer/stuff (oh and for $xxxx,000 cash i'll make up ads for the ad breaks and rave about your gear during the show)"
the cash from the 4wd/trailer/accessory companies more than pays for the actual production costs. (with profit left over) They use freelance cameramen so they they don't need to actually "own" the expensive camers and editing stuff.
They also get new cars/trailers/gear each season so they can sell the old stuff off (more profit)
and if they're also selling a magazine/DVDs/whatever... then that is also profit. (the DVDs cost... ummm... a hell of a lot less that you probably imagine to reproduce, including the case)
being honest though... while there is profit to be had... it's more a way to keep living the lifestyle and being paid for it.