In reply to Tom Coates.

Let’s be clear – in neither scenario does HBO ‘pay’ to sell their stuff. In both situations they are paid by consumers with intermediaries taking a cut.
It's long been my understanding the cable and satellite providers do pay the channels that they broadcast, in the form of licensing agreements. The channels add value to their service, so DirecTV pays the providers to be able to broadcast them.

With the iTunes store, Apple just takes a cut from HBO for the "privilege" of making HBO programming available. But with DirecTV and Comcast, I believe the situation is reversed: the satellite providers pay them.

Are you saying that that's not the case? A quick check on Google hasn't turned up any verification on how cable & satellite deals work, but for years that's how I've understood it to work. It's what Siegler calls HBO being "in bed with the cable and satellite providers, performing unnatural acts," and what I call "spreading the cost around so that people aren't paying $80 just to watch one series."

I am oversimplifying it, of course. I've been presenting it as if I pay DirecTV around $70 for a programming package plus $20 for HBO, and then DirecTV pays that entire $20 to HBO plus a percentage of the $70. I'm skeptical it actually works out that simply since there's so much money involved, but my point remains that HBO has a much better deal with DirecTV and Comcast than they do with, for example, Apple. And that it's exactly that arrangement that means HBO programming doesn't come to Apple until around a year after broadcast.

If you're saying that I've got it wrong, that cable & satellite providers work exactly like other retailers, I'd genuinely be interested in hearing it. Obviously, that would make a much stronger argument in favor of a la carte sales via iTunes and the like.