The Bundle in the Jungle

Patriots Football Fans
"Consumers are still interested in paying for video. But the delivery mechanism is not what people want, and needs to change," Michael Nathanson tells Puck's John Ourand. Photo: Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald/Getty Images
John Ourand
January 28, 2025

Facing the inexorable decline of their industry, the last of the cable cowboys are throwing their energy behind a not particularly new strategy: bundling. In recent weeks, both DirecTV and Comcast have begun offering small packages of news and live sports channels, priced below their basic subscription tiers—an offer eerily similar to the one that they wanted to destroy Venu for offering during its brief time on this planet of ours. Michael Nathanson, a top analyst at his half-eponymous firm, MoffettNathanson, praised the decisions, while arguing that the initial price points for those packages—they’re both around $70 a month—remain too high.