1: https://www.harmonicinc.com/media/2017/06/Harmonic_DS_ViBE-C...
So, wouldn't they directly benefit from switching to free codecs? It will increase their profits by removing their licensing costs.
In 1990 IBM (in "Think" magazine, #5) said they got considerably more value from cross-licensing than fees (in other words, looking at this in terms of money is wrongheaded) because cross-licensing gives them access to ideas). So, it's the power to control one's competition at play as well. This arrangement means (as Richard Stallman pointed out in essays and talks years ago found online in https://audio-video.gnu.org/video/rms-vub-2011-02-22.ogv ) that the entire temporary monopoly one ostensibly gets from the patent system is a sham, a myth. Organizations that hold a lot of patents can always find ways to economically compel smaller patent holders into cross-licensing, thus eliminating any real value of patenting ideas for most.