The "recent tweets" widget shows people tweeting numbers like $10. Isn't HBO as an add-on to an existing cable subscription generally significantly more than that?
Yea, but plenty of the cut the network takes of that $20 is going to infrastructure- and marketing-type costs that HBO would have to shoulder if they struck out alone.
customers that pay for cable + HBO > customers with internet only.
Hence why they have no current desire to alienate big cable to cater to the small number of users who loudly complain they can't watch HBO online when they want.
I doubt that inequality amounts to much. Outside of the tech crowd, if you have cable internet, you pretty much have cable TV. Their salespeople are relentless, and most people [in the US] really really really really like TV anyway.