One thing that allows HBO to offset this cost is that most of its programming, on an hourly basis, is movies (remember that HBO stands for Home Box Office), the rights to which are relatively less expensive than producing original content, as much of the production cost of these films has been absorbed by box office sales.
The prosecution's star witness, one-time oil industry executive Bill Allen, has testified that he sent people on his payroll to work on the Stevens renovation, and that he absorbed tens of thousands of dollars in labor and material cost.