Remember the days when cable first started? You had to buy the "Watching Grass Grow" channel and several dozen others to get the one or two stations you really wanted. It seems quaint in the age of streaming, except for one thing - bundling appears to be back. In the U.S., firms are offering "streaming bundles" for a price. Instead of paying separately for AppleTV+, Peacock and Netflix, Comcast is now offering all three in a package for a lower price.

From The Atlantic:

"It’s not cable, but it’s not not cable either. Streaming hasn’t quite come full circle, but it’s three-quarters of the way around. These bundles are ending an entire era of streaming, with its unsatisfying free-for-all of services. This new era may well be better than the one before it. But the dream of streaming as a cheaper, better version of cable is dead."

I've yet to hear if this is coming to Canada, and if so, who would be offering these packages. But if it makes money and opens more wallets, it may be only a matter of time before Crave offers some of its competitors as part of a big deal. 

You can't escape the irony that the original big streamers were an alternative to cable, a way to escape that bundling and only pay for the programming you wanted. Now it appears - at least down south - it's back. 

The Dream of Streaming Is Dead

But it's not just bundling. Now the Big Streamers are increasingly seeing advertising - another thing viewers fled cable to escape - becoming more and more common. Will those services end up being the same thing as the old TV networks you're trying to leave behind? Unless you want to pay a premium, the answer increasingly seems to be yes. 

What Happened To Our Ad-Free TV?

So what does it all mean? It might be that if you want to see the future, you may have to glance at the past. With a few words from our sponsor.  And who ever thought it would come to that?