YouTube TV Will Soon Offer a Cheaper Plan With Only Sports Content.
Traditional television is best for watching live events, and for many, that means sports. However, most online services that provide access to traditional television don’t allow you to subscribe to sports-only channels. This is about to change.
Today, YouTube TV announced new pricing plans that are slightly cheaper than the current price of $82.99 per month. Among them is a sports plan for $64.99 per month, which includes access to major national sports channels, including FS1, NBC Sports Network, and all ESPN channels, as well as access to national television coverage. Essentially, if a game is broadcast nationally, this package should grant you access. And eventually, it will grant you access to many channels outside your region—the announcement mentions that ESPN Unlimited will be part of the package starting this fall.
The new plan is only $18 cheaper than YouTube TV’s “Basic” plan, but if you already pay for YouTube TV and only watch sports, it could be a nice discount, especially if you get access to ESPN Unlimited.
The ad also features several other discounted plans: the “Sports + News” package adds CNBC, Fox News, MSNow (formerly MSNBC), CNN, and other channels to the sports package and costs $71.99. That’s only $11 cheaper than the full plan, but still a nice discount if you only want to watch sports and news.
But perhaps the biggest savings will go to those who don’t want to watch sports at all. The Entertainment package costs $54.99, which is $28 cheaper than the basic package (or $336 cheaper per year). If you only watch entertainment channels, without news or sports, this is the package for you.
According to YouTube TV, more than 10 similar plans will be launched in the next few weeks. I’ve long dreamed of a world where I could pay only for the cable channels I care about at an affordable price. It’s not perfect, but it’s a little closer to the goal than what YouTube TV offered before.