Just in time for not the Super Bowl, YouTube TV is rolling out a sports plan.
The sports plan, called “Sports Plan,” will cost $18 less than the Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributor’s (vMVPD) main tier, which costs $82.99/month and gives a user access to 100-plus channels spanning all genres.
Existing YouTube TV users can choose the sports-centric plan for $64.99 per month; newcomers get it for $54.99 for the first year. The plan gives a subscriber access to the major broadcast networks, as well as all of ESPN’s networks, streamer ESPN Unlimited (coming in the fall), FS1 and NBC Sports Network.
For news junkies, the Sports + News Plan at $71.99/month (or $56.99/month for new users for three months) is priced $11 less than the main YouTube TV plan. In addition to the components that make up the sports plan, the sports and news option tacks on CNBC, Fox News Channel, MS NOW, CNN, CSPAN, Bloomberg and Fox Business.
Not into live programming whatsoever? YouTube TV’s Entertainment Plan ($54.99/month, or $44.99/month for new users for three months) includes the major broadcasters as well as “FX dramas” and “Hallmark classics,” the company says, also counting Comedy Central, Bravo, Paramount, Food Network and HGTV. The entertainment-only plan is also a frugal subscriber’s dream, costing $28 less than YouTube TV’s main plan.
YouTube TV, like Wu-Tang, is for the children. For $69.99 per month ($59.99/month for new users for the first three months), $13 less than the main plan, users can add family programming to a news and entertainment package, tacking on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Cartoon Network and PBS Kids.
Each of the new plans includes YouTube TV’s unlimited DVR; YouTube TV accounts can have as many as six members on one plan. NFL Sunday Ticket + RedZone, HBO Max and 4K Plus can be added on to any package — including a few we don’t even know about yet.
“Over the next several weeks we are rolling out 10+ plans across Sports, News, Entertainment and Family content, priced lower than the main YouTube TV Plan,” the company said on Monday. By our count, we’re not even halfway there.
YouTube TV is rapidly gobbling up cord-cutters. In the process, the well-financed vMVPD — YouTube is owned by Alphabet, fka Google — has been flexing its muscle in brutal negotiations with top content makers like NBCUniversal and Disney.
