Their equipment costs would be less, but their income would be way less. The only reason I pay for the channel as wide as I have is to be able to stream video, download stuff, etc. For reading email and commenting on HN, I'd be good with fraction of that bandwidth. In my book, trying to have the customers to reduce the consumption of goods they are selling is insane, but then again, in copyright world sanity is an obstacle, not a requirement.
The problem is legit video offering sucks. It is loaded with thousand of DRM hoops and constantly plagued by turf wars between content providers and delivery, so any given moment any content you enjoy can be gone because two suits somewhere couldn't agree about some royalty payment.
If they ever took their collective heads out of their collective asses and offered me a convenient DRM-less subscription service that would enable me to enjoy my favorite shows and movies online without enduring inconveniences that makes one think it was designed by TSA - I'd be super-happy to use that and give my money to them. But the aren't doing it! Instead, they pump money into stupid anti-piracy schemes and starting a war on their own clients.
