[CornFed]

[quote author=garvin link=topic=14933.msg161372#msg161372 date=1461685222]
No. And I think WIM's analogies don't work at all. You cannot possibly understand or enjoy the new Stephen King novel if you skip chapters three, four and five. Whereas my ability to enjoy The Americans is not at all contingent upon my tuning into the Golf Channel, MTV and Spike.

Well, sure... but you could make the same argument re: the newspaper and magazine business.

But, look, the point isn't the details. The point is, it's silly to view either bundled or unbundled options as the One True State of the Market. Many markets bundle services. Many don't.
[/quote]

Indeed, the different delivery options, bundled or bundled, are themselves components of a free market.  The choice of suppliers between these two options is driven by the demand side of that free market.  What makes a market free is not the form of products delivered.  It is the existence of willing buyers and willing sellers with relatively free and equal access to all relevant information.

[CornFed]

[quote author=garvin link=topic=14933.msg161372#msg161372 date=1461685222]
No. And I think WIM's analogies don't work at all. You cannot possibly understand or enjoy the new Stephen King novel if you skip chapters three, four and five. Whereas my ability to enjoy The Americans is not at all contingent upon my tuning into the Golf Channel, MTV and Spike.

Well, sure... but you could make the same argument re: the newspaper and magazine business.

But, look, the point isn't the details. The point is, it's silly to view either bundled or unbundled options as the One True State of the Market. Many markets bundle services. Many don't.
[/quote]

Indeed, the different delivery options, bundled or bundled, are themselves components of a free market.  The choice of suppliers between these two options is driven by the demand side of that free market.  What makes a market free is not the form of products delivered.  It is the existence of willing buyers and willing sellers with relatively free and equal access to all relevant information.