Adding on to my previous comment:

Another side effect of having subscribers rather than advertisers pay for HBO’s network is they don’t need to make sure everyone loves ALL their shows. If people only watch two shows from their entire line-up, they still make the same money. Huge difference.

Other networks need to make sure every single show on their network is accessible to as many people as possible. Nothing that strays too far from the norm, you might alienate someone. Advertisers hate that. Gotta make sure the shows fit that formula… “What? You’re gonna kill off a LIKABLE character for the sake of theme and STORY? Get back in line, you foolish writer.”

(Tell em why you mad.)

Bottom line is I wish there was a way to legally view television shows from the premium networks without paying an additional fee. Maybe it’s a login to the website tied to your cable or satellite account. I don’t know. I understand it is about money, so this will never happen.

I recently stumbled across the great show Brotherhood. It’s a mix between The Departed and The Sopranos. They made money off of me because I purchased the first two seasons from iTunes. If they were available for streaming legally I wouldn’t have purchased on iTunes (though I would have probably bought the seasons on DVD).

I still don’t know if I’m ready to see The Sopranos with commercial breaks. And I don’t know how many advertisers would want to be associated with a show like The Wire (they won’t even toss them an Emmy nomination even though every critic on the planet wants to get the show pregnant).

The economy of HBO is an interesting thing to break down. And I think it works because people have to pay for subscription.

Because it’s cable, they’re off the FCC’s radar – they have the freedom to do what they want. So people who create great, ground-breaking shows WANT to work with HBO. And HBO needs great shows more than it needs great ads. In turn, they attract a certain type of viewer, who expects more than a regular network show delivers. And the scripts are structured around the fact that there are no commercial breaks (which is a subtle but important difference, IMO). And that’s their brand.

If they become Just Another Network, issawrap.