They make a 'free software media solution that puts you in control and respects your privacy' and if they're not naive, they probably suspect a decent portion of their users are playing pirated movies.
So from a certain perspective, saying "no-one gets paid" is more consistent than saying "us developers get paid, those anime studios don't".
For another thing, if you pay for the upfront development of software, it still needs ongoing support. And that support commitment comes with a funding commitment; you don't just pay $x0,000 for an eastern european developer to spend a year adding smart TV support - to keep the developer around and the feature working, you've now got to raise that money every year, forever.
So from a certain perspective, saying "no-one gets paid" is more consistent than saying "us developers get paid, those anime studios don't".
For another thing, if you pay for the upfront development of software, it still needs ongoing support. And that support commitment comes with a funding commitment; you don't just pay $x0,000 for an eastern european developer to spend a year adding smart TV support - to keep the developer around and the feature working, you've now got to raise that money every year, forever.