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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!


Still doesn't explain why other publishers want to be able to do this stuff while TV studios do not.




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