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

Within the US, there are a selection of live TV streaming options — akin to DirecTV, Sling TV, Fubo, and Hulu+ Reside TV — however YouTube TV stays one of many largest and hottest. The primary downside for cord-cutters, nonetheless, is worth. The bottom plan begins at $83 per thirty days, a steep bounce from the $35 month-to-month charge it launched with in 2017. To make the service extra inexpensive and appeal to extra customers, Google could lastly introduce adjustments that customers have been ready years for.

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

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

It is vital to notice that YouTube TV hasn’t made any official announcement about this, and Wire Cutter Information would not reveal 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 affords Style Packs, which can be just like what YouTube TV would possibly ultimately supply

Credit score: Erik Mclean / Unsplash / Pocket-lint

Moreover a probably extra inexpensive sports activities package deal coming to YouTube TV subsequent yr, Wire Cutter Information additionally reviews that YouTube would possibly supply different cheap choices, akin to a children package deal with channels like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, in addition to an “entertainment-focused” package deal that features channels with drama sequence and films.

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

For instance, DirecTV’s MyEntertainment pack consists of over 60 information and leisure channels, akin to A&E, AMC, CNN, HGTV, and FX, for $35 per thirty days. DirecTV additionally affords 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 per thirty days.

It feels 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 reside TV for sports activities and get every thing else from streaming providers like Netflix, and these new lower-cost TV packages would work nice for them.

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

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