• The Hollywood Reporter, Monday, July 5, 2010 11:16 PM

The global economic crisis has affected entertainment industry bottom lines, but there has been an exception. It's not a hot new media kid on the block. It's the unsexy 35-year-old pay TV biz, which has held its own and even experienced growth the past couple of years.

Largest pay service HBO not only boasts the most premium subscribers, but the Time Warner-owned paybox also has the biggest profit margins. In 2009, it received an average of $6.25 a month from 41 million subscribers, generating operating revenue of $3.84 billion against operating expenses of only $2.48 billion, according to analysis by SNL Kagan using Nielsen data.

Showtime receives an average of $1.59 a sub, and Starz gets $2.03 a sub. "It's a cheap form of entertainment, a lot cheaper than taking your family to the movies," said Deana Myers, senior analyst at SNL Kagan. "So even when times are tough, you don't necessarily cancel that."

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