Rumor: YouTube will livestream TV channels for a fee

YouTube is said to be planning to offer streams from TV channels on its video site. The service should be called Unplugged and has been in preparation since 2012. Parent company Alphabet, however, has not yet released anything about the plans.

The rumors come from the usually well-informed Bloomberg. The site relies on anonymous sources who are said to be familiar with the plans. Unplugged is supposed to become a paid TV service and give the user access to a number of TV channels that are streamed over the Internet. It is not clear what would have to be paid for Unplugged, and it is also unknown whether the service is offered jointly with YouTube’s other paid service: Red. There may be different bundles, each with their own theme, that the user can subscribe to individually, according to Bloomberg.

It has been reported that YouTube has been in talks with TV bosses since 2012 about including their channel in Unplugged. Negotiations have taken place with major content providers, such as Comcast, NBC Universal, Viacom, Twenty-First Century Fox and CBS; this makes it clear that these are American providers. Whether there are also plans for international offerings was not clear from Bloomberg’s reporting. Furthermore, YouTube would not have reached a definitive agreement with the TV channels.

Unplugged should be launched in 2017, although YouTube itself has not announced any plans yet. The video site also declined to respond to questions from Bloomberg.