I want to know how cable companies make money.  What are their
revenues, what are their costs?  How many viewers do you need to break
even?  Specific information about a company like MTV, Comedy Central,
or the like will be useful.

If you are speaking of cable networks (MTV, CNN etc.) historically
most have produced more revenue from subscriber fees than from
advertising. Depending on the market a typical cable operator would
pay a network like MTV something like .50 per home (this was close to
an actual figure paid by a cable operator I worked at several years
ago) This becomes a bit more complicated when a single entity owns
several different channels (MTVNetworks owns MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon
etc.) What happens is they tend to pressure cable operators to pay
premium prices for the more desirable properties and force them to
accept less desirable ones without proven track records. In recent
years, advertising revenue has become even more important to cable
networks as the stigma attached to cable advertising has dissolved and
the advantages of precise targetability of cable have become evident
Brand extension and cross marketing are also important sources of
revenue...MTV and Nickeodoen producing movies for example.