Big Changes Are Coming To YouTube TV In 2026 – BGR

YouTube TV is a subscription streaming television service that competes with traditional cable and other over-the-top live TV platforms. However, what started as a somewhat affordable product quickly became an expensive proposition, as its all-or-nothing subscription was over $80 per month, hardly a huge savings from standard cable. Encouragingly, despite prior issues, there are five big changes coming to YouTube TV in 2026 that might make you reconsider subscribing, such as more plans to choose from, a fully customizable multiview experience, design changes, a major DVR upgrade, and even the addition of ESPN Unlimited.

While some of these features might have started popping up for subscribers, some are rolling out over the course of the year. It seems Google might finally understand the potential of its YouTube TV service by listening to customers and offering what they really want.

With over 100 major networks available, YouTube TV makes it easier for American users to select what they actually want to watch, how they want to watch it, and when to watch it. These are some of the big changes coming to the service this year.

Google is walking away from its “all-or-nothing” subscription plan to create several genre-specific plans, which can lower the subscription, depending on what you want to watch. For example, the new plans include Sports, Entertainment, News, and Family bundles. More importantly, regardless of the plan, all subscribers get core features like unlimited DVR, multiview, and family sharing, in addition to having the ability to include add-ons, such as NFL Sunday Ticket, or 4K Plus.

The new Sports Plan starts at $64.99 and offers access to the major broadcasters as well as FS1, NBC Sports Network, and ESPN networks. The Sports + News Plan costs $71.99/month and also gets CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, CSPAN, Bloomberg, and Fox Business. The Entertainment Plan at $54.99/month is made for those who love watching movies and TV shows, as they have access to FX, Hallmark, Comedy Central, Bravo, Paramount, and more. Finally, if you don’t care about sports, but want to have everything else, there’s a News + Entertainment + Family Plan for $69.99/month that gives access to News and Entertainment content, in addition to popular channels like Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, and PBS Kids.

This way, YouTube TV solves the long-standing issue of those who wanted to subscribe to cable, but didn’t want to pay for channels they didn’t care about. With these new plans, there’s something for everyone at a cheaper price than was previously available.

Previously, multiple live streams were exclusive to sports and other pre-selected channels. Rolling out in 2026, users will be able to choose multiview layouts based on different content types.

One good example is the ability to enjoy a sports game while also watching a news program, with an additional window with your favorite TV show on. This way, customers can decide what to pay attention to, but without missing important details of a match, season finale, or breaking news.

YouTube will continue to offer this multiview experience limited to up to four channels, as it already was. While one could say that four simultaneous streams should be more than enough, the big change is the ability to have different channels playing at once, and not being limited to pre-selected options. With that, YouTube ensures family members can watch different content while still being together and commenting on different things happening at the same time. Very technological, indeed.

With YouTube TV’s new Sports plan, the company announced that all ESPN channels will be available on the platform, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, and ACC Network. What makes this news more enticing is that the company’s new expanded streaming tier, ESPN Unlimited, will also integrate into YouTube TV. However, there’s a catch: The service will only be available later this fall.

ESPN Unlimited is a fairly recent addition to the ESPN family, launching in August 2025. It includes the core linear TV network in addition to its digital content, all under one roof.

Since the standalone service costs $29.99/month direct from ESPN, YouTube TV likely offers the best price, considering the other sports partners available on the platform. While YouTube TV users will have to wait a little longer for Unlimited, they already have access to the full linear ESPN experience.

Google wants to make the experience between YouTube and YouTube TV more consistent. This is why it started rolling out a redesign of its app early this year for Android and iOS platforms. Besides an icon refresh on Android, the Live Guide section has been updated with a cleaner look, including how long a program will run, more scheduling info visible in the navigation UI, and a design language similar to other video services Google offers.

The update also includes the ability to better interact with channels by adding them to your library, setting a reminder, and even taking quick actions like going to a program or channel. While YouTube TV still needs more polishing, the redesigned Live Guide section shows the team is working towards that goal.

In addition, these changes will eventually make their way to other places YouTube TV is available, like on smart TVs, Apple’s set-top box, and online. Google’s gradual rollout is expected during this year, with even more tweaks coming in the future. It’s also possible that the company will talk about its plans in upcoming keynotes.

YouTube TV recently started to rollout a major Digital Video Recorder (DVR) upgrade. Not only can you endlessly record your favorite programs to watch later, but the company is planning to offer chapter-style navigation, which means it will be easier to find the part you want by seeing distinct segments you can jump directly to.

This feature will rely on metadata from content partners to make those chapters navigable, and will make it easier to skip irrelevant parts of a recording, like long intros and commercials. More importantly, for supported recordings, the new navigation will show up automatically in the playback UI, so users won’t have to go through an additional setting.

So far, the upgrade has appeared in news programs like “ABC World News Tonight,” but it’s possible that this functionality continues to expand to sports, entertainment, and other offerings. Still, it’s important to note that YouTube TV hasn’t publicly announced a full rollout or a timeline for this feature to be made available to all users, which makes it another big change coming this year.