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.
Exclusives
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.
Court TV, the newly-rebooted, multiplatform network devoted to live, gavel-to-gavel coverage, in-depth legal reporting and expert analysis of the nation’s most important and compelling trials, is now available on YouTube TV. “We’re thrilled to have Court TV added to YouTube TV at a time when consumer appetite for the real-life drama of true-crime and courtroom trials […]
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.
YouTube TV is no longer carrying the Yes Network, the TV home of the New York Yankees, and Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket due to a carriage dispute with their ownership, Sinclair Broadcast Group. However, it’s unclear if the live streaming service is also losing the remainder of the 20 Sinclair-owned, but Fox-branded regional sports networks.
A day after announcing it would drop Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports networks, YouTube TV said last Friday night that it agreed to a temporary extension and that negotiations continue.
Baseball fans who also subscribe to YouTube TV got some bad news today when YouTube TV announced it will drop all Sinclair-owned Fox regional sports networks on Feb. 29. The announcement means fans in several markets — including New York, where the Yankees’ YES Network will be going away — will not be able to catch their favorite teams on YouTube TV. YouTube TV tweeted it was “unable to reach an agreement with Sinclair” to continue carrying Fox’s RSNs.
YouTube TV will carry HBO Max as part of an expanded distribution deal with WarnerMedia. This is the first deal that WarnerMedia has announced for the third-party distribution of HBO Max but more are expected in the lead up to the service’s May launch.
PBS has signed a landmark multiyear deal with YouTube TV that secures carriage for all PBS stations and the PBS Kids network on the live television and on-demand subscription service owned by Google.
Streaming TV providers like YouTube TV, DirecTV Now and Hulu with Live TV lured users with digital “skinny bundles” that were cheaper than cable. Now, many are raising prices. The latest is Google’s YouTube TV, whose price just shot up to $50.
YouTube TV has officially completed its U.S. rollout, with the company announcing that the over-the-top internet streaming service is now available in Glendive, Mont., the final television market of the country’s 210 DMAs that had lacked YouTube TV availability.
While YouTube TV had been available in the country’s 100 largest TV markets, it will be available this week in 95 additional markets, bringing coverage to 98% of the U.S. YouTube says that “the remainder will follow shortly thereafter.”
Fox and YouTube TV, the presenting sponsor of the World Series, are putting a number of innovative commercial executions into their advertising batting order. Many of the executions will play off of the situation on the field and will use YouTube TV’s new slogan “Watch Like a Fan.”
After coming under fire for promoting fake news, conspiracy theories, and misinformation around events like the Parkland school shooting, YouTube says it will take a number of steps to fix the problem. But the Google-owned video platform still seems to be trying to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to being a media entity.
