As consumers deal with a deluge of streaming video services, an obvious solution is rebundling. We still don’t know which company will be the first to offer a batch of subscription products for a discounted price — similar to traditional pay TV.
The answer is an important one. The aggregator of content is the user’s direct point of commerce — which comes with the perk of consumption data. That’s the ideal position in the digital age, when advertisers follow spending habits.
Unlike cable TV, a digital bundle of services doesn’t need to be restricted to just television. This gives an aggregator the ability to personalize offerings like never before, mixing and matching television, news, e-commerce, gaming, health, and any other service that charges a monthly or annual subscription rate.
The obvious “aggregator 2.0” candidates are the streaming hardware technology companies (Apple, Amazon, Roku) or the cable companies (Comcast, Charter, Altice USA) that have traditionally bundled content. It’s also possible media companies, such as Disney, could embrace bundling by incorporating other programming into their streaming ecosystems.
But now, a couple of U.S. wireless companies are springing out to an early lead: Verizon and T-Mobile.
In the past year, Verizon and T-Mobile have methodically
