YouTube TV

Over-the-top streaming offering YouTube TV has reached a milestone of 5 million subscribers and trial customers, making it one of the most popular nontraditional live TV services in the U.S. Owned by Alphabet, five-year-old YouTube TV has differentiated itself from the competition with unique features such as a cloud-based DVR, real-time statistics for live sports, and more. Now that an increasing number of people are cutting the cord and moving to internet-based television, here’s why this might this be the right moment for Alphabet to break out YouTube TV as a stand-alone operation.

In its fine print, the ad, produced by agency Essence and debuting May 16, says it bases the claim on a 2022 study by SmithGeiger “comparing comparable services over 24 months, including hidden fees, promotion pricing, DVR box rental and service fee, and second cable box for the home, if applicable.”

YouTube TV now offers a streaming plan featuring only Spanish-language channels and is also beefing up the lineup of Spanish-language content with a new add-on for the virtual MVPD’s base package. The new option, called Spanish Plan, costs $34.99 per month (with an intro rate of $24.99 per month for the first six) and features 28 channels in Spanish.

YouTube told viewers Sunday it was restoring service so customers could once again watch networks provided by Disney such as ESPN, FX, National Geographic and local ABC stations.

After negotiations failed to reach fruition on Friday, Disney networks, including ESPN, have gone dark on YouTube TV. Disney had indicated earlier this week it was “optimistic” about the prospect of resolving the carriage dispute. But the parties said the discussions had not resulted in an agreement.

The Disney-YouTube TV dispute may be settled — just like hundreds of carriage fights in the past — on the brink of blackout. Or it could mark one of the first battles in the next generation of TV distribution.

YouTube TV’s carriage deal with The Walt Disney Co. expires Friday, and YouTube TV says that if a blackout occurs, it will give subscribers a $15 price cut while content such as Grey’s Anatomy and SportsCenter is unavailable. Disney began warning YouTube TV subscribers of a potential blackout Monday.

It’s another case of the streaming wars making strange bedfellows: Comcast announced that starting today, Google’s YouTube TV is now available on Xfinity Flex, the cable giant’s video platform for broadband-only customers.

Comscore said today it has begun measuring viewing across YouTube and YouTube TV across YouTube’s biggest platforms, including personal computers, mobile devices and connected TV. Comscore will be able to provide metrics for de-duplicated viewing of campaigns on YouTube and YouTube TV for advertisers and measure the co-viewing of content on CTV screens.

NBCUniversal and YouTube TV have reached a carriage agreement a day after the previous one expired, enabling 14 NBCU networks to avoid going dark. The companies had been at odds in recent days over a number of networks, including regional sports outlets, the broadcast mother ship and local stations.

NBCUniversal’s cable and broadcast networks are still live on YouTube TV, after the media company and Google reached a short-term extension to their previous distribution agreement just prior to the Sept. 30 midnight ET expiration.

Another carriage fight has burst into public view: NBCUniversal on Sunday said it was notifying customers with YouTube TV that more than 14 of its networks, including local NBC channels, could go dark on the streaming service in a matter of days. NBCU’s deal with YouTube TV is set to expire Thursday, Sept. 30. Google is unwilling to pay the higher rates the media conglomerate is asking in the renewal talks, according to NBCU. Google said that if it can’t reach a deal by Sept. 30, it will reduce YouTube TV’s monthly subscription fee by $10 per month while the NBCU nets are dark.

Starting Sept. 15, Univision, UniMás and Galavisión networks are available on YouTube TV. Subscribers in top Hispanic markets, including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Chicago, will also be able to access Univision and UniMás local news, weather and programming.

Google didn’t provide a new subscriber total for YouTube TV in the first quarter but one analyst estimate suggests that it was the slowest period for the virtual MVPD in years. According to MoffettNathanson’s latest Cord Cutting Monitor, YouTube TV added 75,000 subscribers during the first quarter. It’s higher than the 43,000 net adds reported by fuboTV and much better than Hulu + Live TV’s 200,000 and Sling TV’s 100,000 net losses. But, according to the analyst firm’s chart tracking YouTube TV’s growth back to the first quarter of 2017, it’s the slowest growth quarter for the vMVPD since the third quarter of 2018.

YouTube TV has developed a new technical workaround as the dispute between the streaming TV service and Roku shows no signs of coming to a quick resolution. The new feature, introduced Friday, May 7, provides access to the YouTube TV service from within the core YouTube app. Users can access it by clicking on a “Go to YouTube TV” button on the main YouTube app.

One month after the 2021 Major League Baseball regular season threw out its first pitch, virtual multichannel video programming distributors YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TV and Fubo TV are still without Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports networks, now rebranded as Bally Sports Networks. Pricing appears to be the reason for the decision to do without the channels, and apparently there has been little movement on either side regarding negotiations.

Roku has followed through on its threat to remove streaming bundle YouTube TV from its platform, in a dispute it has characterized as more about principle than dollars. The streaming provider had warned on Monday that it would unplug YouTube TV unless the Google-owned streaming outlet agreed to certain curbs on search and data use. It charges that YouTube has leveraged Google’s massive resources to manipulate search results in a way that compromises Roku users’ experience and hoards sensitive customer data.

Simmering tensions between Roku and Google have erupted into a full-blown fight. On Monday, Roku began warning YouTube TV customers that Google’s internet pay-TV service may go dark on the Roku platform soon — alleging that Google in seeking anticompetitive terms.

YouTube TV, which has taken heat from subscribers for not carrying the Bally Sports regional sports channels, is offering reduced monthly prices to select new customers. The normal base rate for the live streaming service is $64.99 a month. However, the YouTube TV website is occasionally posting a promotional offer that reduces the first month of service to $44.99. On other occasions, the site features a $54.99 a month price for the first three months of service.

T-Mobile is throwing in the towel on its ambitious “uncarrier” move to shake up cable TV: The wireless provider is shutting down TVision about six month after launching it.  YouTube TV is becoming T-Mobile’s preferred live TV solution, with the three TVision packages it introduced last fall “winding down” on April 29. In addition, T-Mobile is teaming up with over-the-top pay TV provider Philo to offer a $10 base-level video service.

YouTube TV subscribers have a new batch of channels that they can enjoy, with the vMVPD platform announcing the addition of seven ViacomCBS channels to the service. The new channels, announced via YouTube TV’s Twitter, include BET-Her, Dabl, MTV2, MTV Classic, Nick Jr., Nick Toons and Teen Nick.

The new agreement makes Nexstar’s cable network available to more than 3 million new streaming subscribers in 2021.

The video platform’s virtual pay TV service, YouTube TV, has surpassed the 3 million paid subscriber mark. This revelation comes just seven months after Google announced the passing of the 2 million mark for the vMVPD service. That’s an indicator of accelerated growth, as that February 2 million announcement came a full two years after the platform launched.

YouTube and ViacomCBS have revealed an expanded, multi-year distribution deal that will add 14 new networks to the tech giant’s YouTube TV service this summer. The agreement will keep CBS TV stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel and The CW on the bundle and also add BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TV Land and VH1. Additional networks on a premium tier will include ET Her, MTV2, Nick Jr., NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic.

Sinclair Broadcast Group said it reached an agreement with YouTube TV to carry 19 of its 21 regional sports networks. Sinclair, which acquired the Fox Regional Sports Network from the Walt Disney Co., last year, said Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West will no longer be carried on YouTube TV effective Thursday.