If you love television, you know the problem. Hundreds of networks, each one with their own subscription plan and app. Some have even become so greedy that they make you pay-per-show. Too complicated. Too expensive.
But a new product may be coming to clean up the mess. It’s called a “bundle.” The basic idea is that you pay one monthly fee for all of the channels you want, and can view them all either on a unified web/mobile app, or even on a large screen-like device that hangs on a wall in your home. There are no usage limits. And here’s the best part: Included in the price are all sorts of other networks and shows that you’ve probably never heard of before.
“We call it a television discovery engine,” says Brian Roman, CEO of Cable Inc. “You get the shows you know and love, plus we let you ‘flip’ through all sorts of other programs, and even include a ‘guide’ function.”
It’s kind of like the Amazon of television, or a meta-app for TV. Each network pays Cable Inc. a so-called carriage fee in order to be included, thus reducing their in-house marketing costs. Users also pay the monthly fee, plus have the opportunity to purchase extra content like films via the exact same system.
Cable Inc. knows it has some major challenges ahead, but the biggest will be changing consumer behavior.
“No one likes having 10 or 15 different network apps on their tablet or phone, but they’ve been conditioned to accept it,” Roman explains. “We believe that the early adopters will be young people who want a more streamlined service, and that older consumers will come around more slowly. That’s how it is with most technological innovations in the media space. For now, it’s probably fair to say that cable is for kids.”
Hopefully soon we’ll all be “bundled” up.
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