'Skinny bundles' seen to challenge established pay-TV providers

Washington

FOR years, US cable operators got rich by offering fat "bundles" of hundreds of channels and raising prices regularly for television consumers.

Now the "skinny bundle" is disrupting that model with Internet-delivered packages offering live and on-demand programmes.

Google's YouTube TV is the latest to enter this market with its bundle of around 40 channels for US$35 monthly, challenging slim packages from Sony's PlayStation Vue, Dish Network's Sling TV and AT&T's DirecTV Now.

More entrants are expected, including one from streaming service Hulu. These services offer easy interfaces like those of on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, let viewers digitally store programmes in the Internet cloud, and toss in a limited selection of live channels to sate news and sports or othe…