It's not hurting consumers. These companies are not coming up with these plans because they're cheaper for the consumers. They're doing it to entrench them into their service and then extract money in other ways.

It was always going to hurt consumers short-term. I don't know why anyone is surprised.

Maybe it's just because I'm old and remember the clusterfuck when the EU decided one TV company couldn't hold the rights to all the football matches.

(They divvy the rights up in such a way that you can't see a single competition on just one service, let alone just one team's matches.)

Do you think that laws that make buying electoral votes illegal (where they exist) should be repealed on the basis that they are harming people who'd prefer to take that cash?