YouTube TV offers cheaper bundles, including a $65/month sports package
On Monday, YouTube introduced low-cost YouTube TV plans that will allow subscribers to better organize their programming according to their interests in areas such as sports, news, and entertainment. The company said it will offer more than 10 different plans to choose from, all priced as low as $82.99 a month with the main YouTube TV plan having access to more than 100 networks. The new programs will start rolling out this week.
While that main plan won’t go away, the new plans will allow customers to choose what’s most important and what they could do without the savings return.
Among the new plans are a Sports plan for $64.99 per month, a Sports + News plan for $71.99 per month, a low-cost Entertainment plan for $54.99 per month, and a News + Entertainment + Family plan that includes children’s content for $69.99 per month.
Sports Programming includes all major broadcasters, as well as networks such as FS1, NBC Sports Network, all ESPN networks, and ESPN Unlimited. This plan is $18 per month cheaper than the main plan.
YouTube TV news channels include CNBC, Fox News, CNN, MS NOW, and Bloomberg, as well as other national news channels. Combined with Sports, the package costs $11 less per month than the main YouTube TV plan.
The entertainment-only plan is $28 a month cheaper than the main plan, and includes the major broadcasters as well as FX, Hallmark, Comedy Central, Bravo, Paramount, Food Network, and HGTV. Families with young children can add other channels like Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, and PBS Kids for more.
The company also offers discounts to new subscribers, which can lower the price of certain plans further for the first few months or the first year. Subscribers will continue to have access to unlimited YouTube TV DVR, support for up to six family members on one account, multiview, and more.
Other add-ons like NFL Sunday Ticket + RedZone, HBO Max, and 4K Plus can also be purchased to further customize programming.
The company says all new plans will begin in the next few weeks.
Customized packages are now not a new concept in broadcasting – a la carte options were an important part of the original offering of streaming pioneer Sling TV, for example. This personalization feature was also one of the features intended to make streaming a better alternative to traditional pay TV, where consumers often paid for channels they didn’t want.
But as broadcasters add more content, networks, and, especially, sports programming, broadcast costs have come back to compete with cable and linear television. Live TV broadcasters like YouTube TV may have offered convenience and savings over expensive cable, but it was no longer affordable.
These new packages hit the market at a time when consumer confidence is at its lowest in more than 11 years, due to fears about the job market and high prices, which have made consumers more cautious about their spending.
