YouTube TV finally lets you avoid paying for channels you don’t watch

Source: Android Authority

TL;DR

• YouTube TV has started rolling out its long‑awaited genre‑based plans, letting you subscribe to categories like sports, news, or entertainment instead of everything.
• Prices for the announced packages start at $54.99 per month, with a discount for new subscribers.
• The main YouTube TV plan is still available, with the price unchanged.

Everyone has their own personal viewing habits when it comes to streaming. Some people mainly want live sports, others just want to keep an eye on current affairs, and plenty of households are really paying for kids’ channels and familiar favorites. Forcing all those people into an all‑encompassing live TV bundle never felt especially logical. YouTube TV has been teasing its changes to address this issue, and the new bespoke plans are finally rolling out.

What are the YouTube TV channels you couldn’t live without?

Over the coming weeks, YouTube TV is launching at least 10 genre‑focused plans, following its December announcement that it would move beyond a single, all‑in package. In a post on the YouTube Blog, the company says its goal is to let you pay for what you actually watch, rather than defaulting to the $82.99‑per‑month base plan.

YouTube has outlined four example plans so far:

• Sports Plan – $64.99 per month (or $54.99 for new users). Includes major broadcast networks plus FS1, NBC Sports Network, and the full ESPN lineup, with ESPN Unlimited coming later this year.
• Sports + News Plan – $71.99 per month. Adds news channels such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, and Bloomberg.
• Entertainment Plan – $54.99 per month. Focuses on channels like Comedy Central, Bravo, Food Network, HGTV, FX, and Hallmark.
• News + Entertainment + Family Plan – $69.99 per month. Bundles the above categories and adds kid‑friendly channels like Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, PBS Kids, and National Geographic.

Despite the shake‑up, the full YouTube TV plan isn’t going anywhere. If you want everything in one place, you can keep the 120‑plus‑channel package exactly as it is, at the same price.

On paper, this is an easy change to like. Having the option to trim entire categories you don’t care about feels overdue, and our readers were generally in favor of the change in our poll. That said, YouTube clearly isn’t making a loss‑leading move here. Three of the four example plans are less than $20 cheaper than the full package. Still, if you already know what you watch but didn’t want to pay $83 per month, you’ll soon have more flexibility.