YouTube TV could be getting cheaper in 2026, however there is a catch

Within the US, there are a variety of live TV streaming options — equivalent to DirecTV, Sling TV, Fubo, and Hulu+ Dwell TV — however YouTube TV stays one of many largest and hottest. The primary downside for cord-cutters, nevertheless, is value. The bottom plan begins at $83 monthly, a steep bounce from the $35 month-to-month price it launched with in 2017. To make the service extra inexpensive and entice extra customers, Google could lastly introduce adjustments that customers have been ready years for.

YouTube TV is reportedly making ready to launch new, lower-cost TV packages early subsequent yr, based on Cord Cutter News. These lower-cost packages would goal particular audiences, with one of many important choices mentioned to be a sports-focused bundle that includes channels like ESPN, Fox Sports activities, and NBC Sports activities.

Proper now, YouTube TV presents solely a single all-in-one plan with greater than 100 dwell channels. The concept behind these new, lower-cost packages, or “skinny TV bundles” as they’re typically referred to as, is to take choose channels from the total lineup and provide them in smaller, cheaper packages to assist minimize down on the price of dwell TV, and provide folks simply the channels they really wish to watch.

It is necessary to notice that YouTube TV hasn’t made any official announcement about this, and Twine Cutter Information does not disclose its supply. So whereas it is thrilling that YouTube TV may lastly offer some cheaper TV packages quickly, it is price taking this with a grain of salt proper now.

YouTube TV may very well be taking a web page from DirecTV’s playbook

DirecTV presents Style Packs, which can be just like what YouTube TV may ultimately provide

Credit score: Erik Mclean / Unsplash / Pocket-lint

Moreover a doubtlessly extra inexpensive sports activities bundle coming to YouTube TV subsequent yr, Twine Cutter Information additionally experiences that YouTube may provide different cheap choices, equivalent to a children bundle with channels like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, in addition to an “entertainment-focused” bundle that features channels with drama collection and flicks.

To this point, all these cheaper, smaller packages that YouTube TV may provide subsequent yr remind me of DirecTV’s Genre Packs. Whereas DirecTV presents a number of large all-in-one packages with a number of channels, its Style Packs, which it launched earlier this yr, are less expensive and provide only a number of channels geared toward particular audiences.

For instance, DirecTV’s MyEntertainment pack consists of over 60 information and leisure channels, equivalent to A&E, AMC, CNN, HGTV, and FX, for $35 monthly. DirecTV additionally presents a MySports Style Pack, which incorporates over 20 sports-focused channels, together with ESPN, NBC, TNT, CBS Sports activities Community, and native ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC stations the place out there, priced at $60 monthly.

It seems like YouTube TV could also be taking a web page instantly from DirecTV’s playbook if it launches lower-cost, genre-based packages subsequent yr — and actually, I am all for it. I do know loads of individuals who have zero curiosity in sports activities and solely need leisure channels, simply as I do know others who solely activate dwell TV for sports activities and get every part else from streaming companies like Netflix, and these new lower-cost TV packages would work nice for them.

In my opinion, extra inexpensive, focused bundles are a better path for dwell TV — and a a lot better different to the bloated, all-in-one packages that some streamers provide, the place you find yourself paying for content material you may by no means watch.

YouTube TV hasn’t formally introduced these potential bundles, and Twine Cutter Information did not identify its supply, so it is unclear whether or not these cheaper YouTube TV packages may truly come subsequent yr. In different information, YouTube TV lately signed a brand new distribution deal with Disney, so not less than all of the Disney-owned channels will stay on the service for the foreseeable future, together with ESPN.