Bateman
Rising Star
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2009
- Messages
- 310
From Variety
Google has a new pitch for disgruntled cable and satellite TV users: YouTube TV, a new “skinny” bundle of TV channels including CBS and Fox priced at $35 per month.
The move, which has been expected, makes Google and YouTube the latest players to take the over-the-top field, as providers see a big opportunity to sell cheaper, multiscreen internet-delivered TV as alternatives to traditional pay-TV services.
The TV programming will be accessible both live and on-demand — with no recording restrictions. The subscription includes six accounts for $35 per month. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said the service will initially launch in markets with local live TV feeds, but will expand later.
“There’s no question that millennials love great TV content,” Wojcicki said at a press event Tuesday. “But what we’ve seen is they don’t want to watch it in the traditional setting.”
YouTube Unplugged will compete with Dish Network’s Sling TV, Sony’s PlayStation Vue and AT&T’s DirecTV Now, which the telco says attracted 200,000-plus subs in December thanks to a limited-time promo. Meanwhile, Hulu is planning to launch its own live TV bundle for under $40 per month, a service expected to debut in April.
YouTube is slotting in premium TV as a complement to the billions of other videos on the site, as it looks to cultivate a new subscription-revenue stream — and pull in more advertising from marketers’ TV budgets. This week, YouTube said its users worldwide watch about 1 billion of hours of video every day, up tenfold since 2012.
Google has a new pitch for disgruntled cable and satellite TV users: YouTube TV, a new “skinny” bundle of TV channels including CBS and Fox priced at $35 per month.
The move, which has been expected, makes Google and YouTube the latest players to take the over-the-top field, as providers see a big opportunity to sell cheaper, multiscreen internet-delivered TV as alternatives to traditional pay-TV services.
The TV programming will be accessible both live and on-demand — with no recording restrictions. The subscription includes six accounts for $35 per month. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said the service will initially launch in markets with local live TV feeds, but will expand later.
“There’s no question that millennials love great TV content,” Wojcicki said at a press event Tuesday. “But what we’ve seen is they don’t want to watch it in the traditional setting.”
YouTube Unplugged will compete with Dish Network’s Sling TV, Sony’s PlayStation Vue and AT&T’s DirecTV Now, which the telco says attracted 200,000-plus subs in December thanks to a limited-time promo. Meanwhile, Hulu is planning to launch its own live TV bundle for under $40 per month, a service expected to debut in April.
YouTube is slotting in premium TV as a complement to the billions of other videos on the site, as it looks to cultivate a new subscription-revenue stream — and pull in more advertising from marketers’ TV budgets. This week, YouTube said its users worldwide watch about 1 billion of hours of video every day, up tenfold since 2012.
