It’s time the Federal Communications Commission or Congress directs the channel bundlers to unbundle the channels

Bundling as a pricing strategy has been with us for some time. When bundling combines TV, phone, and Internet services into one bill, consumers can save.  It can provide one-stop shopping for homeowners and often providers make promotional offers such as free installation.

However, bundling is to the consumer’s detriment when the limited number of providers of television, such as Dish, use bundling to force the consumer to pay for channels they do not want or use. The major TV providers are Comcast, Spectrum, Sky, and DIRECTV.  With Dish, if one only wants CNN, it is available only if you subscribe to Flex Pack for $52.99. To get MSNBC, one must get the News Pack for 10.00 a month. Add-On channels are priced, like Showtime and Starz, are $10.oo. If CNN and MSNBC were available on an a la carte basis, they could be priced no higher than Showtime.

Dish provides the illusion of getting channels a la carte by showing an “A la carte” Appreciation Pack at $0.00 per month. The reasonable assumption is that the zero amounts would be increased to reflect charges for the channels a consumer wants.

It’s time the Federal Communications Commission or Congress directs the channel bundlers to unbundle the channels.