I’m not a lawyer and I’m sure there are some legal nuances I don’t understand, but how is bundling cable TV channels any different than the Microsoft practice of bundling its web browser ... which got it into trouble under U.S. anti-trust law?
Because cable bundles include channels from competing media companies. MS’s bundling was a block against competition. The real issue here is media empires. Bundles happen because there’s 6 companies that run all the biggest channels, and a bunch of little channels. They negotiate prices with cable companies based on which bundles which networks go into. Put more of their “also ran” channels in the “basic” bundle they charge less for the big dogs that are why people buy cable in the first place. The cable companies have no choice. The empires don’t want a choice. Going to be interesting to see how this plays out.