YouTube's New TV Plans May Pay Back Your Premium Hike

Cord-cutters who have ditched their regular cable subscriptions, but still want to watch traditional TV have a good alternative in YouTube TV; an $82.99 monthly subscription that gives them access to over 100 live channels. YouTube TV doesn't include YouTube Premium, which is a separate monthly charge. The monthly bill can easily hover around $100 for both services, depending on what Premium subscription you get. The advantage over regular cable is that YouTube TV doesn't come with a contract, and you can unsubscribe at any time. However, things are about to get even better in early 2026. 

YouTube confirmed in a short blog post that it will launch genre-based YouTube TV packages that will let consumers customize their TV watching experience. YouTube didn't mention any price points for the upcoming bundles, but the genre-based YouTube tiers will likely be cheaper than the full $82.99 subscription. A direct result of that is you'll soon be able to make up for the YouTube Premium price hikes, and maybe even other streaming price hikes unrelated to YouTube.

Subscribers will have access to more than 10 genre-specific packages, according to the announcement. The company mentioned only one of them, the YouTube TV Sports Plan, which will offer access to "all the major broadcasters as well as sports networks like FS1, NBC Sports Network, all of the ESPN networks, as well as ESPN Unlimited." NFL Sunday Ticket and RedZone add-ons will also be available. The blog post also notes that "fan-favorite features, including unlimited DVR, multiview, key plays, and fantasy view," will also be available to customers. YouTube also teased other YouTube TV bundles that may be possible under the new subscription system, like combining combine sports with news, or creating plans that feature "family and entertainment content."

YouTube Premium may be a no-brainer subscription for those who don't want any ads in their regular YouTube experience. That does mean paying $13.99/month for an individual plan, or $22.99/month for the Family offer, on top of YouTube TV. There's no YouTube TV+Premium bundle to help you save money. In 2023, Google increased the YouTube Premium price from $11.99/month to the current $13.99/month rate. Subscribers who stayed on since then paid $2 extra every month, paying at least $48 extra since the price hike. Once YouTube rolls out the genre-based TV subscriptions, they'll be able to recoup that money if they want.

It's likely some of the new YouTube TV plans will be significantly cheaper, while others will be closer to the maximum fee. However, even a few dollars in savings on YouTube TV each month will help you recoup extra YouTube Premium fees. The bigger the difference between your current YouTube TV plan and the genre bundle, the more money you'll make back for your streaming budget. Netflix has also introduced price hikes in recent years, and other streaming services have followed, so you'll be able to recoup some of those costs as well. Of course, this back-of-the-napkin calculation only applies to consumers who have also been paying for YouTube TV all along, which saw its own price hikes over the years.

If you're considering becoming a YouTube TV subscriber only now, you're obviously going to be spending more money on streaming, regardless of what future YouTube TV package you choose. That's probably the reason why Google will launch the new YouTube TV tiers: It's looking for more revenue from new subscribers, rather than providing existing consumers options to cut back spending.