Add CenturyLink to the list of companies planning to offer so-called "skinny" TV bundles. Speaking about the company's earnings last week, the telco stated that it's currently testing a skinny TV bundle trial under the company's "Prism" TV brand, one that will soon be expanded into a "more robust trial." According to CenturyLink, whenever their skinny bundle launches it will include local broadcast networks, something telco CEO Glen Post hopes will differentiate the offer from similar products now on the market.

Pay TV providers are increasingly turning to skinny bundles in order to cater to "cord shaving," or users that scale back the number of overall channels and options to save money.

If these users find they're unable to get any flexibility from their pay TV provider, they often turn into cord cutters -- looking elsewhere for value. While skinny bundles are a good first step, we've consistently noted that they tend to saddle consumers with all manner of hardware rental and other often misleading fees, frequently resulting in packages that aren't much better or cheaper than what's currently on offer.

CenturyLink says it will experiment on pricing later in 2016, but first needs to secure all of the correct programming arrangements.

"They key for getting the skinny bundles to work is having the right level of programming agreements in place," CenturyLink CTO Aamir Hussain says of the project. "When we launch our TV over-the-top offering, that offering [will be based upon] new agreements with the broadcasters. And those agreements are not bound by any caps or by franchise agreements. So these are non-franchise-type agreements. They allow us to pretty much have a nationwide reach.”

We'll have more detail after CenturyLink expands its skinny TV trial later this year.