OHHHH, right. Of course. Why didn't I (and the guys in charge of HBO, and the CEO of Disney) think of that! I' sure those guys don't know what they're talking about compared to a bunch of message board folks (no offense)!
I mean, even with your "meal deal" analogy there are a few issues. First, the king of the meal-deal, McDonalds, is currently having to rework their business model because they aren't doing nearly as well as they used to. There are several reasons for this, including health scares in some of the international markets, but here in the US they're being beset on all sides by... their competitors who are going slightly cheaper, regional competitors who are better at getting customer loyalty... and perhaps the situation most relevant here, " more upmarket "fast-casual" restaurants such as Shake Shack and Chipotle Mexican Grill, which are rapidly growing. They have been luring customers—particularly younger ones—away from McDonald’s chicken nuggets and [fries] by offering slightly better quality food, a high level of [customization] (such as the option to choose the ingredients in a burrito or burger) and some table service" (Why McDonald's Sales are Falling, The Economist). Second, you're right, if you can get a package deal that gives you a better price for something that you can't get for free or even cheaper at a comparative level of quality, then yes, I'll buy a burger, fries, and a drink. But I'm not likely to buy a "meal deal" with 2 burgers, a southwestern style burger, chicken strips, fries, curly fries, nachos, and 8 drinks just because it's cheaper than if I bought all of those individually... unless of course I intend to share them with a whole bunch of friends. And, truth be told, a lot of times these days people want water, not a drink... because... why do I need a drink? And then it comes down to pricing whether I get one just because it's cheaper or I just go with the main item. And still, back to my point about competitors, I'm way more likely to hit up Freebirds (where I get to choose what goes into my food) or P Terry's (which is a fairly cheep but local competitor) anyway.
Look, I already know a ton of people who are on the "cut the cord" or at least cut-back bandwagon. And, while some of that is because I know people who are students, some of these are fellow professionals who realize they just don't need it... or as much of it... as they used to. People with active lives who have a handful of shows that they watch know that they don't need a bazillion channels. I mean, one of my most well-off friends is excited about HBO going a la carte because for a long time he really disliked having to pay for all the extra channels that came along with it that he didn't care about. He'd actually unsubscribe as soon as Game of Thrones ended and pick back up on it when it came back on. Now? He's probably going to check out the other shows he was curious about but never cared enough about to hold on to the extra cable package. And I mean, with the way you can stream from your computer to your TV? A whole family can have one cable package and share it between a few different locations. And, as long as companies are trying to pile on all the extra crap and charge accordingly, that's going to happen. HBO, who is already one of the tighter-on-sharing channels, is probably going to feel justified in tightening up even more now that someone can just sign up for them and not have to pay for everything else that Time Warner or AT&T wants to send along with it.
Now, do I think bundling will go away completely? Nah. But Could I see a situation where "build a plan" gets more granular? Sure! Could I see a la carte becoming more prominent among the highest quality, most widely desired channels? Certainly!
Right now there are so many avenues to watch things without paying for a big bundle plan already, some more morally questionable than others, the more clunky the packages that cable providers have, the more motivation customers have to seek out other means. It used to be something that mostly college students did. But keep in mind, the college students who first learned to do that are the young professionals who are deciding whether or not they should cut the cord now. They KNOW how it can work.
