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YouTube TV Launching Cheaper Sports, News, and Entertainment Bundles in Early 2026

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YouTube TV will be updated with more than 10 genre-specific television packages in 2026, YouTube announced today. The upcoming YouTube TV Plans will be more affordable than the current version of YouTube TV, which is priced at $82.99 per month.

youtube-tv.jpg

There will be packages for sports, news, family, entertainment, and more. A YouTube Sports Plan will include top broadcast networks along with all ESPN networks and sports networks like FS1 and NBC Sports networks.

YouTube has not provided information on the pricing for each of the YouTube TV Plans, nor what specific channels will be included. YouTube TV Plans will have most of the same features as the standard YouTube TV subscription, like unlimited DVR, key plays, fantasy view, and multiview.

YouTube TV has more than 100 channels, and YouTube subscriptions VP Christian Oestlien said that the company's goal is to provide users with more control over what they want to watch. The current plan will remain available, with the added plans included as a lower-priced option.

Article Link: YouTube TV Launching Cheaper Sports, News, and Entertainment Bundles in Early 2026
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/10/youtube-tv-cheaper-plans/
Based on what other services have offered, these "lite" plans will likely still be 80% or more of the cost of the (soon to increase) full package.

And even the packages focused on news or entertainment will still likely include channels like ESPN due to contractual obligations, causing those packages to cost more than people are hoping.
 
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MacRumors said:


YouTube TV will be updated with more than 10 genre-specific television packages in 2026, YouTube announced today. The upcoming YouTube TV Plans will be more affordable than the current version of YouTube TV, which is priced at $82.99 per month.

youtube-tv.jpg

There will be packages for sports, news, family, entertainment, and more. A YouTube Sports Plan will include top broadcast networks along with all ESPN networks and sports networks like FS1 and NBC Sports networks.

YouTube has not provided information on the pricing for each of the YouTube TV Plans, nor what specific channels will be included. YouTube TV Plans will have most of the same features as the standard YouTube TV subscription, like unlimited DVR, key plays, fantasy view, and multiview.

YouTube TV has more than 100 channels, and YouTube subscriptions VP Christian Oestlien said that the company's goal is to provide users with more control over what they want to watch. The current plan will remain available, with the added plans included as a lower-priced option.

Article Link: YouTube TV Launching Cheaper Sports, News, and Entertainment Bundles in Early 2026
Click to expand...


If there’s a package that gives me all my local channels and all the NASCAR, IMSA, and Indycar races.. that’s less than what I’m currently paying, will definitely take advantage of it.

Otherwise?

Shrug.
 
Excellent news, but sports is essentially subsidizing all the other channels at this point, so I’m will to bet the sports package will be only slightly cheaper than the full price. I’m guessing $59.99 to start… with frequent price hikes.

To be honest, this could be brutal for all the non-sports packages.

Who is going to subscribe to a family package, with ads, when they have Disney+ and YouTube Kids available?

Who is going to subscribe to the news package, besides the boomers?
 
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Live TV basically is just sports now. And “news” if you want to call it that.

Of course it will be expensive because the sports contracts are ridiculous, but if you do just want sports, I don’t see how it could be worse than what we are dealing with now.

And maybe this will lead to change in those contracts so that at least the price doesn’t increase higher than the rate of inflation over the next few years…
 
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This is all very interesting. After Disney demanded increased charges for ESPN, YouTube settled and presented the identical lineup with no additional charges! What happened? Pretty clearly, YouTube decided to eat the increased charges temporarily -- with plans to rapidly unbundle ESPN (and other sports channels) from their "core" package. Customers can get those channels, but they must pay what YouTube is paying for those channels.

I've never understood why people categorically supported the local channels and ESPN in these fee-raising deals that have been happening for years. Clearly, the customer is always left to pay the bill for the channels. The Cable providers and YouTube TV will work to minimize the customer charges, but they are in a no-win situation.

YouTube TV has done a smart thing. Customers can get the sports channels, but they must pay for them. I guarantee that YouTube is marking up those channels a tiny amount.

YouTube TV lets you record programs and play them back and fast-forward over the advertisements. The ESPN+ service does not -- you must watch the commercials. Cable services with DVRs -- and YouTube TV -- offer a better experience than those paid premium channels.

This will be a problem for Disney/ESPN.

carniesandrubes said:
And even the packages focused on news or entertainment will still likely include channels like ESPN due to contractual obligations, causing those packages to cost more than people are hoping.
Click to expand...
People are hoping those channels will be free -- but they cost YouTube TV real money. By unbundling them out of the core package, customers will pay for what they want. They will avoid channels that they do not want. Customers will also see a close approximation of what the sports channel providers are charging for those services.

It's a brave new world.
 
ace8cjc said:
Me. I like my news. I follow politics closely and would like this kind of package. But I do wonder what would constitute a “news” channel nowadays.
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ace8cjc said:
Excellent news, but sports is essentially subsidizing all the other channels at this point, so I’m will to bet the sports package will be only slightly cheaper than the full price. I’m guessing $59.99 to start… with frequent price hikes.

To be honest, this could be brutal for all the non-sports packages.

Who is going to subscribe to a family package, with ads, when they have Disney+ and YouTube Kids available?

Who is going to subscribe to the news package, besides the boomers?
Click to expand...
 
The nice thing with YouTube TV is you never really have to watch commercials. I haven't watched a commercial in years. You just DVR everything and skip over them. If you want to watch an 8pm show, just DVR it, and start watching it around 8:20 and by 9pm you finish at the same time without a single ad.

I think there is hope with removing ESPN and sports from a full bundle (if you don't want them). They are the most expensive channels.
 
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There is a (perhaps small) subset of people who will clearly benefit from this. Definitely not people who are into the major sports. And not family/kids who are hooked on Disney.

But there is a group . . . mostly women, mostly middle age and older . . . who seems to really like HSN, Lifetime, and other such. And don't seem to mind ads. Assuming they don't have others in the household, I guess, they are going to have maybe the cheapest package. Probably a few certain native language slim bundles, too. I also know a few people who are only into news and talkshow content; that's it.

Remember that there definitely are channels (i.e., content) worth *a lot* more than others. A lot is underselling it. And quite a few channels which are free or mostly free to distribute . . . or even better. Meaning some content that people are willing to pay to push because they make money in other ways. I'd love to see what a bundle of the eight channels I watch truly cost, but I know cross-marketing/cross-subsidiary deals are how certain players need to make money. Otherwise, some players wouldn't make money. That is crystal clear from their 10-Ks. Can you imagine if each and every channel had to run on its own as a business (including working out its own licenses for content), and had to offer the same pricing for distribution to any platform (cable, satellite, Google/YouTube, Apple, etc)? Full transparency and access from any basic platform, though I guess there would always have to be DRM involved . . . because. So ESPN is the exact same, HBO is the exact same, etc, etc. And no bundles, two year contracts, or hardware-based subsidies would be allowed. That would be awesome for (some) consumers, but probably no one else (content producers, distributors and broadcasters, etc). God help you if you are a large family with highly diverse interests, though. I think Apple was trying to accomplish some such years ago, but they couldn't get enough people to play along. All this is just a pipe dream, of course.
 
S.B.G said:
I’d like to have a small and reasonably priced package that includes TCM.
Click to expand...
Came here to think exactly that. Not actually type it in but I was thinking that. Only channel I watch on cable now. The rest is just hot garbage, fake reality shows, fake science shows, fake everything.
 
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