 Others argue the rules made the work of independent television production companies much more difficult because smaller companies could never afford the deficit financing required unless they received network assistance.The rules also led to the destruction of numerous older television tapes in the 1970s; what could not be sold or given away to an independent syndicator was thrown out or recycled to recover silver content.Controversial from the very beginning, the fin-syn rule was relaxed slightly during the 1980s.