YouTube TV announced the creation of a sports-focused monthly subscription plan that would carry most available live sports at a $20-per-month discount to its existing one-size-fits-all plan.
The “Sports Plan” — part of a slate of niche subscription offerings within the YouTube TV ecosystem — will include the major broadcast networks, along with sports-focused cable networks like ESPN’s networks, FS1 and NBC Sports Network, a resuscitated cable network that simulcasts some of Peacock’s biggest games.
The sports-specific plan will cost about $65 per month for existing YouTube TV subscribers who want to switch from their current YouTube TV plan, which runs about $83 per month and includes 100 channels, most of which are not related to sports.
The new strategy is also an attempt to try to add to its existing subscriber base of nearly 10 million — making it the third largest multi-channel provider in the country behind cable companies Charter (Spectrum) and Comcast (Xfinity) — by offering sports fans an alternative to their current cable set-up or subscription to digital multi-channel providers, like Hulu + Live, Fubo, Sling and DirecTV. New “Sports Plan” subscribers will get a reduced rate of $55 per month for the first year.
As part of the resolution to YouTube TV’s stand-off with Disney over ESPN last fall, ESPN’s new “Unlimited” $30-per-month streaming service that includes all of its networks, plus WWE events, smaller-level live games and its library of on-demand shows, is to be bundled into YouTube TV’s offering to its subscribers at no extra charge. Per a YouTube TV release, ESPN’s full Unlimited offering will be part of the Sports Plan starting this fall.
The media industry has been talking about “skinny bundles” catering specifically to sports fans — or vice versa: lower-priced bundles that don’t force non-sports fans to pay extra for sports channels they don’t ever watch — for two decades. The hegemony of the cable industry and its profitable economics precluded that option for years. Now, YouTube TV is forcing the issue.
Analysis
This is a step toward what viewers want — a place where you can find your sports for one price. There is no Amazon Prime Video so “Thursday Night Football” and a third of national NBA, including big playoff games, won’t be on this service. Netflix’s smattering of live sports will be elsewhere. Apple TV, too. Still, this is like “Venu Sports+,” which is the right direction.
Venu Sports was the ESPN, Fox Sports and TNT Sports confab that never launched, but was a skinny bundle that was going to be priced at $42.99 a month, but likely would’ve gone up. This offers more, as beside those Big 3, you receive NBC and CBS, among others. That’s a big win, because that’s a fuller sports offering. It is still not perfect, but The Great Rebundling is upon us, and YouTube TV has been watching its subscribers go up. This can only add to that, which feels like a win for it, its content providers and maybe — just maybe — fans. — Andrew Marchand