Philadelphia sports fans will soon be presented with a first \u2014 a chance to actually save money during the streaming wars. <\/p>\n
Beginning this week, YouTube TV is rolling out a sports-specific plan featuring channels with major sports rights that will cost $64.99 a month, $18 less than what it currently charges for a subscription. <\/p>\n
New subscribers can nab the deal for $54.99 a month for a year. <\/p>\n
The plan will include all the major broadcast networks \u2014 ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox \u2014 and cable channels that hold sports rights, including ESPN\u2019s networks (and full access to ESPN Unlimited beginning in the fall), FS1, TNT, TBS, TruTV (for the NCAA men\u2019s basketball tournament), CBS Sports Network, Golf Channel, and USA Network, the U.S. home of Premier League games. <\/p>\n
NBC Sports Philadelphia will also be included in the slimmed-down sports bundle for those who live in the Philadelphia TV market, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed. So will NBC\u2019s other three regional sports networks in their respective areas, including Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Northern California. NBC Sports Philadelphia will also still be available to stream without a cable subscription through Peacock and MLB.TV. <\/p>\n
YouTubeTV\u2019s sports bundle will also include league-centric channels like the NFL Network (now owned by ESPN), the Big Ten Network, and NBA TV, which this season basically just airs a whip-around show called The Association and a handful of NBA games. <\/p>\n
While the plan gets sports fans the bulk of NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games, there are a few omissions. There\u2019s no Amazon Prime Video, which features Thursday Night Football, weekly NBA games, and playoff games in both leagues. It also doesn\u2019t include the handful of NFL and MLB games streamed by Netflix, or Apple TV+\u2019s Friday Night Baseball or MLS games. <\/p>\n
Another notable omission is MLB Network, which hasn\u2019t been available on YouTube TV since 2023 due to a carriage dispute.<\/p>\n
YouTube TV is also rolling out slimmed-down subscription offerings for entertainment fans ($54.99 a month), a sports plus news package ($71.99 a month), and a family-focused plan ($69.99 a month). <\/p>\n
Why now? Growth. YouTubeTV is the third-largest cable TV provider in the country and growing, with over 10 million subscribers, trailing just Charter (12.6 million) and Comcast (11.3 million). While Comcast has been shedding video customers, Charter has been able to stem its losses by offering its own skinny bundle<\/a>, something fans and non-fans alike have been complaining about for years. <\/p>\n NBC Sports Philadelphia will still be available to stream without a cable subscription on Peacock<\/a>. It\u2019s also available through MLB.TV<\/a>, although because it\u2019s now run by ESPN you\u2019ll need to jump through a few hoops so you\u2019re not also charged for ESPN Unlimited. <\/p>\n More NFL games coming to YouTube?<\/p>\n YouTube, the free older brother of YouTube TV, hasn\u2019t been quiet about wanting to stream more NFL games in the near future. It could get its wish as soon as next season. <\/p>\n As part of its purchase of NFL Media and the NFL Network, ESPN agreed to give the league back the TV rights to four games. Those will now head to the marketplace, where YouTube is expected be among the bidders. It\u2019s no surprise that YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was among the big names sitting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in his Super Bowl<\/a> box at Levi\u2019s Stadium on Sunday. <\/p>\n \u201cWe really value our partnership with the NFL,\u201d Christian Oestlien, YouTube\u2019s vice president of subscription product, told Bloomberg.com in a recent interview<\/a>. \u201cEverything we\u2019ve done with them so far has been really successful. And so we\u2019re very excited about the idea that we could be doing more with them.\u201d<\/p>\n YouTube\u2019s biggest competitor for those four games will likely be Netflix, which is entering the last year of its three-season deal to stream NFL Christmas games. Ted Sarandos, Netflix\u2019s co-CEO, was also in Goodell\u2019s booth. <\/p>\n YouTube streamed its first NFL game last season, the Week 1 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers played in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The game drew 17.3 million global viewers, including 16.2 million in the United States, a big number boosting the streamer\u2019s chances of landing more games. <\/p>\n More sports media news<\/p>\n