I've worked in the cable TV industry in the past. For the most part, the cable companies have little control over the channel bundles, they really wouldn't mind

I've worked in the cable TV industry in the past. For the most part, the cable companies have little control over the channel bundles, they really wouldn't mind offering a la carte options, but they are forced themselves to get channels in bundles from the content owners. Much of this has changed in recent years with NBC/Comcast and Charter owning more of the source content, but a lot of the other channels are sill provided by outside companies, who do not want to unbundle them.