The TV bundle is making a big comeback in the streaming era

[JohnS]

Well, it was bound to happen. Competition is good to bolster better products and pricing for consumers, but too much competition can lead to 'players' in the market needing to find ways to merge with other competitors to survive. Since Netflix re-branded itself to launch a streaming service in 2007 (incidentally, around the same time the Apple launched their first iPhone, a touchphone that completely revolutionised the mobile phone market), it has become imperative for every Media company to launch a streaming service, just to be in the market.

However, producing media content costs money; in fact, a lot of money! After a brief period of Streaming Services raising prices post-COVID, comes news that Streaming companies are now looking to offer bundling to attract new customers. Is this of interest to you? Read more below...

Streaming’s ‘great re-bundling’ has begun. What that could mean for subscribers

Analysis by Brian Lowry, CNN, Mon July 8, 2024

Netflix is winning streaming. Disney wants to change that

(CNN) - Streaming appears poised to undergo what some have called “The Great Re-Bundling,” with services merging, combining or forming alliances that will essentially reconstruct the cable “bundle” that consumers relied upon for decades.

While that makes sense for studios eager to offer “more robust and streamlined content,” as Disney CEO Bob Iger said earlier this year, subscribers have every reason to wonder “What’s in it for me?,” and if all these high-stakes corporate announcements will really benefit them.

Will it make access to at-home viewing options cheaper? More plentiful? Easier to navigate and find what you want? Less of a chore to manage in terms of juggling multiple subscriptions?

That’s the goal, but honestly, we can’t really know.

The latest news to ripple through the streaming front involved reports Paramount, prior to moving forward on its merger with Skydance, looking to combine its Paramount+ with another service. Max, the HBO-centered provider from CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery, was among those cited as potential partners.

Such an arrangement would follow the formal announcement in February of Venu Sports, a joint sports offering consisting of Disney’s ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros.; Disney’s intra-studio attempt to create a mega-service to subscribers who ante up for its trio of services: Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+; and Disney’s collaboration plan with Warner Bros. on a bundle consisting of Disney+, Max and Hulu.

The advantages for the companies, as they seek to compete with Netflix and the tech giants (Amazon and Apple foremost among them) that have helped crowd the streaming waters, aren’t certain, but the objectives seem clear, beginning with the hope these combined or consolidated services will reduce churn – that is, people signing up and cancelling and signing up again.

What has become increasingly obvious, though, is for all the knocks on cable, starting with the fact consumers paid for lots of channels they never watched, its one-stop-shopping approach eliminated some of the challenges springing up now.

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a plan to jointly offer Hulu, Disney+ and Max in May. Hulu/Disney+/Max

That old system worked because the “bundle” actually created a mechanism to financially support a vast number of choices serving various tastes.

Simply put, paying for ESPN if you don’t like sports, or CNN and MSNBC if you don’t watch news, might have been irritating, but those millions of cable subscriptions spread out the revenue in a way that made dozens and dozens of channels available and affordable.

The dream of a more a la carte system, where you pay for what you watch, has turned out to elusive, primarily because there’s no way – at least yet – to adopt that where the cost doesn’t become onerous, and maybe even prohibitive, for many consumers.

Unwinding the bundle by “cord cutting” on cable subscriptions might have felt good, but in terms of the industry’s economics, that shift opened Pandora’s box. While Disney or Paramount’s profits need not concern consumers, the ability of those companies to produce and present TV shows and movies people want to see does.

After cutting the cord, stitching it back together in a different form through re-bundling comes with question marks, and risks. Just ask newspapers that once delivered a physical bundle that landed on people’s doorsteps before the digital age upended their business model.

The promises made by executives like Iger, who called Venu “a major win for sports fans,” might very well work out. In theory, consumers could indeed be spared some of the “annoyance and decision-making,” as Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle wrote, associated with keeping track of a half-dozen streaming services, adding that’s “why so many consumers prefer things like all-inclusive vacations, and why bundling is a common business practice.”

Still, when it comes to implementing structural changes in how entertainment gets distributed and consumed, an adage well known to most Disney characters remains worth remembering: Be careful what you wish for.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/08/entertainment/streaming-great-rebundling-disney-warner-bros

[JohnS]

And just a few weeks later, Disney (and Hulu and Max) have made a move...

Disney, Hulu and Max launch streaming bundle at up to 38% discount

New York (CNN) — Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney launched a cross-studio bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and Max on Thursday, bringing the services together at a discounted price as the entertainment giants look to scale their streaming businesses.

The companies said the bundle of the three services, which was first announced in May, is available to new and returning subscribers for $16.99 a month with ads, or $29.99 a month without ads — an up to 38% savings over the standalone pricing of each platform.

The lowest priced Max plan is currently offered at $9.99 a month with ads. Disney+ with Hulu is also available for $9.99 a month with ads.

The new bundle offers subscribers access to a wider array of programming, including the premium service HBO, and content from ABC, CNN, Discovery, Food Network, FX, HGTV, Hulu, Pixar, and the Star Wars franchise. The collaborative effort also brings together two major comic-book rivals, Warner Bros.’ DC and Disney’s Marvel, in a single package.

The launch of the bundle comes as WBD, the parent company of CNN, and Disney, which owns both Disney+ and Hulu, look to woo and retain subscribers in a battle against larger streaming rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

“We have found that when you bundle together with other content that more people in the family like — on a very basic level — the more often you watch the product, the more people in the family that watch the product, the lower the churn,” WBD chief executive David Zaslav said this spring.

The emergence of the combined services at a discounted rate resembles the traditional cable television bundle that consumers have relied upon for decades, offering up to hundreds of channels for one monthly price. Disney already offers its own streaming bundle that includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ at a bargain rate. In December, Verizon announced a new subscription that paired Netflix and Max’s ad-supported tiers for $10 a month, a deal that, for an additional $10, also includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN.

Smaller streaming platforms have struggled in recent years to retain subscribers in an increasingly crowded sector that also includes NBC’s Peacock, Paramount+, and Apple TV+. Earlier this week, Peacock parent company Comcast announced the service had shed 500,000 subscribers in its most recent quarter.

Others are also jumping into the already-crowded streaming fray. Earlier this month, Hallmark announced that it, too, will launch its own standalone streaming platform, Hallmark+, ahead of the holiday season.

Disney, WBD and Fox Corp. are also launching the dedicated sports streaming service Venu this fall, which will combine ESPN, TNT, Fox Sports and other assets under a single streaming roof.

“We’ve watched for years the decline of the linear bundle on cable and satellite and we’ve been preparing for a world where that business is not as strong as it used to be,” Disney chief executive Bob Iger told CNBC in February. “I’d rather be a disruptor than to be disrupted.”

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/25/business/disney-hulu-and-max-launch-streaming-bundle-at-up-to-38-discount/index.html

[PuroDiario]

Thanks @JohnS for anyone interested in a dry yet great read on history of media business, cycles of bundling and unbundling, etc. I’d recommend reading this book.
 

https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Mogul-Worlds-Leading-Companies/dp/1591843901?dplnkId=2d808309-fc64-445e-8cab-d56fb962372a&nodl=1 

[Cigar Surgeon]

Boy oh boy I could write a novel in response.

I can only speak for my experiences as a Canadian but cable subscriptions as affordable? Cable subscriptions were running over $120 a month for not that great of packages when I decided to cut the cords over a decade ago.

Streaming made for a great alternative but some of these bundles are just new streaming services that branched off and segmented the content. It's better than paying for each service but the moment Paramount+ and Hulu and all of these competitors popped up we're just back into cable subscriptions all over again.

Pirating is the great equalizer.

[Fireball]

1 hour ago, Cigar Surgeon said:

the moment Paramount+ and Hulu and all of these competitors popped up we're just back into cable subscriptions all over again.

Pirating is the great equalizer.

Hopefully they will be like Disney + where bundled and non bundled options exist. 

[Chas.Alpha]

For internet, TV and the Atlanta Braves baseball package I pay $270.00/mo. 

Hmmm, no tv for 3 months or a box of HUSW? 😳🤔

[BrightonCorgi]

IPTV is the way to go. I pay around $150 a year for nearly every channel in the world.