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Streaming Bundles Have Money-Saving Appeal, But In The Long Run They’re Bad For Consumers – Guest Column

Increasing numbers of streaming bundles

For the networks, bundling that content provides economic security and an insurance policy against creative risk-taking, which makes it easier to take the kind of big swings that lead to great TV. In the golden age of cable, the bundle gave TV networks a highly profitable and stable revenue stream including affiliate, retransmission and advertising fees, in some cases packaged with broadband and cell phone services. All that cash underwrote a robust creative ecosystem which gave rise to some of the greatest TV series in history from The Sopranos to Breaking Bad.

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