In reply to Chuck.

This doesn't actually make sense to me either. HBO gets money from the cable companies, because consumers pay for the cable packages. They don't get all of that money - much of it goes to other places and to administrative costs and—presumably—profit for the companies.

On iTunes, again, HBO gets money, but again they don't get all of the money because some of it goes to overheads, administrative costs and profit for Apple.

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.