I suspect it's more complicated than that. Netflix is $15 a month, cable subscribers routinely pay $100 or more. And I'd bet that HBO and its properties get a reasonably-sized chunk of that. That "BOATLOAD" has a lot of scaling to do.
The complication is in the hands of the MSO (e.g. Time Warner, Comcast, Cox). That $100 isn't for the content license, it's for the exclusivity contracts in your area. Ever notice how there's only one or two options for a provider in your area? That's because companies like Time Warner physically purchase the rights to the actual cable lines in your area and forbid any other providers from transmitting over them. Your cable bill is for the most part ensuring this exclusivity stays in place. It's a whole lot of bs put in place by a lot of greedy people. Don't be fooled.
All of that is true, but content licenses are, in fact, a very large portion of that bill. This hastily googled link (i.e. I didn't finish reading it) claims that HBO gets $7.27 per subscriber. That's full half of Netflix's rates right there, for what, maybe 5% of the per-viewing-hour content delivered?
Here in the Texas area, Verizon's FiOS service is easily $80-100 a month. That's for the base internet + tv package, with no special channels, too. That does not include HBO, or any other movie channel. At one house that I lived at for a year or so, we paid $180 a month for TV + internet, no phone line. That was simply because we wanted HBO and some sports channels, and good internet, with like two extra DVR boxes.
I consider $100 on TV + internet to be pretty average, if not lower average.
Edit: deleted message said something about $100 being way more than he had seen for TV and internet bundles.
