It’s not YouTube TV, and it’ll be free
YouTube TV is one of the strongest contestants of regular cable TV, offering live streaming in a convenient package. Like cable TV, it’s quite a costly option, starting at $65 for its base plan. In contrast to that, some competitors like Pluto TV or Amazon Freevee (née IMDb TV) offer completely free, ad-supported options, and it looks like that’s where YouTube sees yet another avenue to success. The company might expand its entertainment offerings with a similar hub of free, ad-supported streaming channels, though details remain light right now.
As per The Wall Street Journal, Google is reportedly in talks with several entertainment companies to feature shows and movies in a hub of cable-like channels. According to the article, Google is even already testing this with a few media partners. We haven’t seen evidence of such experiments rolling out to a minuscule group of people, or at least people not vocal about it on the internet.
According to the report, this service could launch, or at least get tested more broadly, as soon as this year. Google is no stranger to the concept of streaming live TV with YouTube TV. However, it is unclear just how exactly the channels would be integrated with existing YouTube services. It’s possible that the new live experience is part of the regular YouTube app, but it could also be a different service altogether or become part of YouTube TV.
As for available content, The Wall Street Journal reports that during the test, the channels are provided by suppliers “including Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. , A+E Networks, Cinedigm Corp and FilmRise,”
We don’t know when this feature will roll out to regular users, and frankly, we have very few details about it right now. Hopefully, a lot of it will clear up over the next months.
