You have to realize, HBO's customers are not the subscribers. HBO's customers are cable companies. The cable companies deal with the subscribers and just keep track of how much to pay HBO every month. HBO doesn't even know who the subscribers are! They don't have any identification or billing information. That's why they can't sell to customers directly.
They don't have any identification or billing information. That's why they can't sell to customers directly.
(Shrug) All they have to do is ask. It's as if they don't want to be able to sell directly to their viewers.
Other publishing industries are frantic at the thought of middlemen like Apple and Amazon owning subscriber relationships. Yet HBO and Showtime seem to actively prefer it that way. I don't get it... don't they understand the risks of putting all of their eggs in the cable provider's basket?
They have no customer support desks, no personally identifiable information, no monstrous billing system. Turning from a B2B company to a B2C company is not as easy as flipping a switch!
