YouTube TV announced a partnership with Turner Broadcasting on Wednesday that will bring a variety of channels to the platform including TNT and TBS.
For sports fans, this partnership comes just in time for NBA All-Star Weekend and March Madness, which will be broadcast on Turner channels as will MLB postseason games, the PGA Championship and the UEFA Champions League.
In addition, YouTube TV will soon offer NBA TV and MLB Network. NBA League Pass and MLB.TV are also coming in the future, for an additional fee. These offerings come in addition to YouTube TV’s previous partnerships with ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC.
With the new partnership, and an expansion to more cities, the cost of YouTube TV is rising from $35 a month to $40 a month starting March 13. Because you can cancel YouTube TV anytime, sports fans can potentially get March Madness content without being on the hook for regular season baseball. In addition, one subscription allows for six different accounts that can stream simultaneously and have their own unlimited DVRs.
“We want to be more and more focused on the sports fan as we go along,” said Christian Oestlien, the Director of Product Management at YouTube TV. “We are excited about the next 12 months and how we can change people’s perspective on what internet TV can be.
“Linear TV is still the best place for sports. We want to bring all the best video content to our audience and a big part of that is live sports.”
The goal for YouTube TV is to reinvent the way people experience television. Traditionally, live TV has come from a cable box in a living room.
“There are all these legacy ways in which people experience TV that haven’t kept pace with the innovation of technology,” Oestlien said. “We have a decade-plus experience figuring out how to perfect video delivered over the internet.”
Live television through the internet poses its own set of issues. Second screen viewing is becoming the norm, and if a viewer experiences a moment through social media before their own live stream, that poses a problem.
“The latency lag is in the 10-second range,” Oestlien said. “We are taking that live broadcast feed then transcoding that to be delivered over all devices. We are working on bringing that down and as close to truly live as possible. It’s nothing YouTube hasn’t dealt with before.”
YouTube TV got its first swing at a major sporting event in last year’s World Series. For many sports fans, it was their introduction to the service and — while the ad behind home plate may have annoyed some – the viewing experience went off without a hitch.
“The broadcast of the World Series was a fantastic moment for us,” Oestlien said. “When we can showcase these incredible events, (sports fans) grasp the value of YouTube TV and understand the gap it fills in their life.”
TV ratings are down across much of the sporting world as people are watching less traditional TV. The millennial and Gen Z demographics are the culprits. People from ages 14-30 watch much less TV than older generations. Part of the reason is social media, but another large part is disillusionment with cable companies, both the cost and the customer service.
YouTube TV is hoping to capture those demos in a way that traditional cable has not.
“A significant portion of people joining our service haven’t paid for TV in the last 12 months, or at all,” Oestlien said. “The millennial generation still has a passion for sports. They are tired of the legacy business. The product experience has not evolved. The costs are getting bigger; channels include stuff true sports fans have no interest in. We are focusing on delivering a world class sports experience.”