YouTube may soon unveil a paid TV service called UnPlugged that will offer a bundle of broadcast and cable TV channels over the Internet, according to Bloomberg News.
The new service, which could cost less than $35 a month, is expected to debut as soon as 2017, according to the report, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations. YouTube, the Google-owned video giant, has supposedly been in talks with content providers NBCUniversal, Viacom, Twenty-First Century Fox and CBS. It has yet to secure rights to the programming, because the parties haven’t agreed to pricing for access to the channels, according to the report.
It’s unclear what the service will look like when it’s introduced, but Bloomberg’s sources said YouTube could package basic broadcast TV channels from the nation’s four major networks in addition to a few popular cable channels. The company has supposedly been working on an online TV package since at least 2012. Apple and Amazon are also rumored to be working on similar services. Satellite TV provider Dish Network and entertainment giant Sony already have online TV services.
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