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The bundle is staging a comeback.

After spending billions of dollars to launch their own direct-to-consumer streaming platforms, the world’s biggest entertainment companies are slowly getting back together, giving consumers a break on soaring prices by pushing them to their more lucrative ad-supported tiers with the hope that the more attractive offers will keep them from axing their services.

Verizon this week launched a new streaming subscription for its wireless phone customers, pairing Netflix and Max's ad-supported tiers together for $10 a month — a more than 40% savings on the price of the individual services. For an additional $10, Verizon said it will also throw in Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. All told, for just $20 a month, the company's customers can now get five streaming services for the price of a single tier of Netflix.

"Verizon is using its strategic relationships with the biggest players in the content industry to continue to unlock more value for its wireless customers," the company said in a statement boasting of the deal.
 
The announcement comes just days after The WSJ's Jessica Toonkel reported that Apple and Paramount are also discussing a partnership to offer a discounted pairing of their streaming services, Apple TV+ and Paramount+. Both services, with their sizable, yet smaller, libraries have had a more difficult time breaking through in the competitive streaming climate.

Disney, which has offered its own bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — its three direct-to-consumer streaming services — at a reduced price, has also continued to merge the platforms closer together. The House of Mouse will soon launch a combined Disney+ and Hulu app, melding the two platforms' libraries in a single app.
 
"This is a logical progression of our (direct-to-consumer) offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers while giving bundles of subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content," Disney chief Bob Iger explained earlier this year.

If you squint hard enough, it all starts to resemble the television bundle that was once an entertainment essential, but eventually became so overwrought with niche channels and high prices that consumers began to cut the cord.

David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, has been open with his belief that the bundle is set to make a return in the streaming era, noting that the current experience consumers face as they try to locate their favorite programming on a dizzying number of apps is far from ideal.

"As we talk to consumers, they find it difficult, and so I think one of the things that we’re going to see as we look into the future is bundling," Zaslav said.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max platform itself is already a bundle of previously smaller services, mashing up HBO Max with the Discovery+ portfolio. In recent months, Max has also launched a new 24/7 live news channel from CNN and added a live sports tier, two major attractions that were previously only found on cable lineups.

Consumers have seen the price of streaming services soar this year, with the monthly cost of nearly all the major platforms increasing by double-digit percentages. The most expensive tier of Netflix, which includes ad-free programming and 4K-resoltion, is now $22.99 a month. The similar ad-free tier for Max is now $19.99 a month.

While bundling services together could benefit consumers hoping to lower the price of streaming services, entertainment companies are hoping it also stems the bleeding of consumers canceling their subscriptions, a process made far easier in the direct-to-consumer content age. The research firm Antenna said the cancelation of streaming services reached an all-time high in October, hitting 5.7%.

By bundling up, streamers are hoping to reduce those cancelations in exchange for offering larger content libraries at a discount on its ad-supported tiers. At the moment, some consumers subscribe to various services to binge certain shows, then unsubscribe after consuming it. Media companies need to do something to stop that bleeding.

As Zaslav said at a conference in May, the independent, walled-off models that have existed over the last several years are "not really sustainable because it’s not a good consumer experience" and "because there are a lot of people in this business that are just losing too much money."

———  BELOW THE FOLD  ———

SAG Onstage: The clock is ticking as the deadline to ratify the SAG-AFTRA contract ends Tuesday night. The tentative agreement the union's negotiating committee struck with the major studios is expected to be ratified by its members, but the vote is not expected to be anywhere near unanimous. That is because dissatisfaction with the A.I. provisions remains a major concern for some members. In fact, the possibility the agreement "might pass at a low vote is very real," a source told CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister as the voting deadline neared. One member who voted against the deal explained to Wagmeister, "We are going to be training our replacements." Still, the negotiating committee has been clear that they believe they achieved a sterling deal for the union's 160,000-some members. And, regardless of the margins, the deal that put an end to the historic strike is expected to be ratified.

Rejected by Russia: A recent attempt by the U.S. government to secure the release of The WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan was rejected by Moscow, the State Department said Tuesday. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller disclosed to reporters that in recent weeks the U.S. "made a new and significant proposal" to secure their release. Whelan has been in Russian detention for five years, while Monday marked the 250th day of Gershkovich's imprisonment. Sources told CNN that U.S. and European officials offered to release Russians convicted of espionage as well as suspected Russian spies, in exchange for Whelan and Gershkovich, both of whom Moscow has accused of espionage. CNN's Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis and Jennifer Hansler have more.

Cheney Tops the Charts: Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney's tell-all book is taking the country by storm. "Oath and Honor," which sounds the alarm about the danger of a second Donald Trump term and the serious potential for democratic backsliding in the U.S., is currently topping the Amazon charts. In fact, it's so popular, Amazon currently notes that it is "temporarily out of stock" of hardcover copies. Meanwhile, Cheney is proving to be a television draw as well. Her appearance on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show on Monday drew an average of 3.1 million viewers.

► Maddow's intro to Cheney is worth reading: "I disagree with Liz Cheney about everything. My whole adult life on everything in politics, I would not just say that Liz Cheney and I were on different proverbial teams, I would say we are from different proverbial planets. And they are planets that are mostly at war with each other. ... It's important because that tells you how serious and big something has to be to put us, to put me and Liz Cheney, together on the same side of something in American life. I'm sure Noah had a hard time convincing the mice that they should get on the same boat with the snakes… but needs must. Normal combat, normal willingness to chomp on each other or run or defend ourselves from each other, yields to the imperative of the world-destroying flood, where all land animals face the same fate and all the old fears and rules have to be put on hold, because now we're either all going down or we're all in the same boat."

► The media tour: Cheney spoke on Tuesday morning with Savannah Guthrie, in the afternoon with Nicolle Wallace and in the evening with Anderson Cooper. On Wednesday, she's scheduled to appear on CNBC's "Squawk Box," then she will sit for an interview with Jake Tapper, and finally appear on Ari Melber's show. And on Thursday, she will swing by CBS News. Cheney is also keeping busy recording podcasts. She will make appearances with Kara Swisher, David Remnick, and Charlie Sykes. 

Threads Shows Its Teeth: As the future of Elon Musk's X hangs in the balance, Mark Zuckerberg's Threads is surging in downloads. The Meta-owned app currently ranks No. 2 in the Apple App Store's most downloaded free apps (X is behind dozens of other apps, placing at No. 56). Meanwhile, data from Sensor Tower put the app race in further perspective. The analytics firm told CNN's Brian Fung on Tuesday that Threads has been downloaded 182 million times worldwide this year — 20% more than X — which sits at 150 million. Data from Apptopia separately indicated that there has been a surge in downloads in recent weeks. The Street's Patricia Battle has more on that here. 

Last Week Tomorrow: Get ready for more John Oliver. The HBO comedian signed a fresh three-year deal with the network, keeping "Last Week Tonight" running through 2026. "We will continue trying to stretch the term 'entertainment' to the breaking point," Oliver joked in a statement. HBO boss Casey Bloys added that "with an important election year on the horizon, we look forward to seeing what John has in store for audiences." Deadline's Peter White has more here.

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.