The big idea here is to offer packages that bundle together cable TV, cable Internet, VoIP, and wireless services and offer them to subscribers at a price that would be less than signing up for each service individually.
My guess is that if it is done right, collaborative filtering of content can expose the long tail better than the current cable bundle, at which point Apple (or some other company) would really have something to talk to the cable companies about.
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The big argument for the persistence of the cable bundle of channels (few of which any given subscriber ever watches) is that it sustains niche channels that consumers would miss if they disappeared from lack of subsidy.
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But most cable operators still want to bundle channels together on the retail side, because it brings in a guaranteed level of revenue they use to support the network.
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Just think about how long it took cable companies to get customers to bundle services.
Cable companies offer their channels in bundle packages.
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When we come out the other side, we'll have the choice of our telephone company versus our cable-television company for the same big bundle of services.
"They are gearing up to fight new competitors, the cable-television industry, for the complete bundle of services, including telephone, television, wireless and Internet, " said independent telecom analyst Jeff Kagan.
Even Netflix, which many viewers prefer to bundled cable-TV channels, is itself a bundle of content, albeit available on demand and at a relatively low monthly price.
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For the last three years, Netflix has been growing by leaps and bounds, luring movie viewers away from the video store and the cable TV to its video streaming and mail order bundle.
Its most immediate challenge is from the cable industry, which has invested heavily in its infrastructure and is now offering a bundle of digital television, broadband and voice service.
Cable channels, on the other hand, gets a slice of every subscriber on their bundle.
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With the NFL having recently expanded its cable reach for the NFL Network and Red Zone to about two-thirds of the country by inking major New York providers Time Warner Cable and Cablevision last season, industry observers figure the next logical step is for the league to bundle the assets.
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