The tough economy has proved to have a silver lining for some in the television business. Pay-television networks are booming as consumers look for lower-cost forms of entertainment, reports the Hollywood Reporter.

"It’s a cheap form of entertainment, a lot cheaper than taking your family to the movies," said SNL Kagan senior analyst Deana Myers. "So even when times are tough, you don’t necessarily cancel that." HBO remains the biggest pay-TV network, with 41.4 million subscribers in 2009 paying an average of $6.25 a month, a rise from 40.5 million customers in 2006.

But some predict that pay television will hit a wall with the advent of movie downloads and round-the-clock VOD access to television shows. Still, pay-TV networks aren’t sitting on their hands: HBO is set to debut HBO Go, which will allow customers to access HBO content on various devices, while Epix in June rolled out a multiplatform system that allows customers to watch content through various media, the story says.