Where Are YouTube TV’s New Channel Packages? Service Plans ‘Slow’ Rollout

You would think one of the largest tech companies on the planet would be able to roll out a new product cleanly. But YouTube TV says they’re taking their sweet time to offer their new channel packages.

Here’s the language currently on their sign-up site:

We’re slowly rolling (genre plans) out to all users. We hope to have this completed in the next several weeks. In the meantime, feel free to reference our Help Center for more details.

Several weeks? Good grief.

Even YouTube’s CEO seems to be confused about how to announce a new product, as I pointed out to him on X.

It’s very silly that the first detail of the new plans came when a YouTube executive let one price point slip in an interview Sunday night.

Then, Monday morning, YouTube TV itself announced a few more price points, but didn’t give concrete examples of all the channels available in each package.

On Wednesday, Mohan tweeted that YouTube TV was “introducing” its new plans. But saying you have new plans is no introduction at all. It’s a tease.

But it’s Friday. The full list of plans have still not been introduced. The full list of prices is not available. And we still don’t know which channels go with which package.

Ridiculous.

‘Chaos is a Ladder’

Streaming services seem to thrive on chaos and confusion. I’ve been covering the industry for 6 years and this seems to be the norm for most of them.

Many services deliberately fight transparency. Some require you to create an account before you’re able to see the prices. Channels are often presented with images instead of text lists, making it hard to search for what you want to watch.

Fubo is a particularly bad offender. It often changes its channel lineup without warning. It hides its regional sports network fee until you get to the checkout screen. It has occasionally killed off its free trial or tried to force users to subscribe quarterly instead of monthly. Although its CEO knew Fubo wouldn’t be getting NBC and its affiliated channels back as early as January, he didn’t admit negotiations had broken down until the company’s earnings call in February.

Some services like Sling TV have raised prices without making a formal announcement.

YouTube TV has been among the more straightforward streamers. Although the length of its free trial slides all over the place and its promo offers are unpredictable, its single channel lineup made the situation more clear than some of its peers.

Although the development of new packages at lower prices is always welcome, this bungled rollout is just another reason many people are turning their backs on the live TV ecosystem altogether.