That only works if the manga publishing industry wants to embrace digital media. As it stands, printed publishers are all afraid of digital media. [And not just in Japan.]
For anime, it's fine. But manga, I don't think so. Once they acknowledge digital distribution as the future, mangakas will begin realize that they do not need to be under the content restriction, deadlines and low commission restrictions publishers impose.
The publishers are all aware of this fact. And the Japanese readers shift to online viewing, which is why they've begun to target scanslations and raws, as well as scare would-be-upstarts from 'going rouge'.
Of course not all artists will leave the publishers behind, as big names have more say on their projects and being published is a sign of how far you've come. But upstarts will change how they market themselves and their works.
Thou their ultimate fear is the loss of control. It's the fear that their competition will increase as others long time artists begin to form their own online publishing sites, changing from signed contractors to content publishers. [In the future, I expect they'll force upstarts to sign non-compete agreements, as part of their contract.]
The same thing is happening with the music industry. British upstarts like Lady Sovereign were born and gained fame without the backing of a major record label behind them, because of digital distribution. Which I'm sure does not please them and formerly signed artists like Fred Durst have formed their own label. Yet another example of how an industry that once monopolized the fates of their artists is now more in control of the artists themselves.
As for anime; it's expensive to produce. Excluding the Tokyo Prefecture from advertisement streams would greatly hurt TV budget shows. This may cause a shift to digital media, but Japan's internet structure is more focused on online mobile support than it is the traditional web browser based structure. Their mobile internet structure is why portable wireless based games like Monster Hunter have been immensely successful and why the Nintendo Wii's online support is greatly lacking.
In the future, I expect to see a rise in OVAs produced and a drop in the amount of TV content produced. At least until this unjust law is overturned, by the Prime Minister and his cabinet. [Did you know that the law only makes it illegal to possess drawn loli? As in it's still legal to posses indecent pictures of real children. Something thrown in at the last minute, I might add. (Makes you wonder who the sick f*** was, in Tokyo's governmental prefecture, who voted to exclude that part. humm....)]
[Yes, I talk too much and divert from the subject far too much... Which is funny, because I'm actually very quite. Anyway...]
