Streaming was supposed to kill cable TV with on-demand movies and shows at a low monthly price. But in recent years, streamers have been looking more like cable than ever before, with ad-supported tiers, premium plans, bundles, and live programming. Some platforms like Hulu and YouTube TV even offer live TV packages, allowing users to stream cable channels. In short, the great unbundling was not what it was all cracked up to be.
Now, YouTube TV is looking to break up its basic cable package. The subscription service is set to introduce over 10 cheaper genre-specific cable channel bundles in the new year, according to one exec.
“TV should be easy, giving viewers greater control over what they want to watch,” said Christian Oestlien, VP of subscriptions at YouTube, in a blog post. “Our goal is to let you tailor your subscription with more options.”
The mini cable packages are going to be called YouTube TV Plans.
Only one specific plan has been announced so far. The YouTube TV Sports Plan will grant subscribers access to all the major broadcasters as well as sports networks like FS1, NBC Sports Network, all of the ESPN networks, as well as ESPN Unlimited.
These plans could also be combined, while other subscriptions like NFL Sunday Ticket and RedZone may be offered as an add-on. YouTube TV is keeping most of the details to itself.
“These will be smaller portfolios of content, think sports, news, family and entertainment, or combinations thereof that I think will really deliver the kind of core experience a lot of fans have been asking for,” Oestilen said at a dinner in New York City on Tuesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Although the prices for these bite-sized plans have not been announced, Oestlien said they will be cheaper than YouTube TV’s basic package, which comes with over 100 channels for $82 per month.
The news comes after YouTube TV has had contentious negotiations with various media partners this year. The streaming service narrowly avoided blackouts of NBCUniversal and Fox channels earlier this year. But it wasn’t so lucky during its negotiations with Disney.
In November, YouTube TV and Disney finally reached a carriage deal, ending a 15-day blackout of Disney channels, which include ABC and ESPN.
“We spent the last year working really closely with our media partners,” said Oestilen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “A lot of negotiations, very public negotiations as you know, but a lot of it was because we were working with them to kind of show them the data we were seeing, get them excited about what the future of television could look like.”
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