Time Warner depends on traditional pay TV distributors to carry — and pay for — its fleet of Turner networks including TNT, TBS, and CNN. Execs have also said that HBO’s best growth opportunities come from working with cable and satellite to persuade their customers to pick up the premium channel.

Prospects for greater collaboration likely would diminish if HBO offered a product that encouraged pay TV subscribers to cut the cord. That’s a real concern, research firm Parks Associates said in January based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households. It found that 17% might subscribe to an HBO streaming service — with 91% of them current pay TV subscribers. The kicker: About half, the firm said, “would cancel their pay-tv service after subscribing” to the HBO service.

From the article "Will HBO Team Up With Apple For Online Service Launch?" by David Lieberman.