As an owner you still want money to spend. How do you get that if not from the profits?
In the cable company example, from taxes (not paid) and accelerated depreciation (a big part of the taxes not paid). Money is fungible and cash is the ultimately fungible form of money. Tax money (not paid) is better than money taken as taxed profits.
By running the business at a loss (from a profit/loss point of view), the cable company paid little or no taxes. You can take $100 in profit and pay $30 in taxes (net $70 in your pocket), or you can show $0 profit and roll that $130 into your business expecting $130 + growth in the future. Note that, with the cable company example, the cable company "was unprofitable" every year yet paid a compound return of 30% to its shareholders.