YouTube TV
vMVPD · alphabet
Alphabet's virtual MVPD, launched April 5, 2017. With more than 8 million subscribers as of YouTube CEO Neal Mohan's February 2024 update, it is the largest US vMVPD by paid subscribers, ahead of Hulu + Live TV. Holds the exclusive US distribution rights to NFL Sunday Ticket through a seven-year, roughly $2 billion-per-year deal that began in the 2023 NFL season.
YouTube TV is the distribution surface where Alphabet’s pay-TV ambitions and the NFL’s most valuable out-of-market package live under one app. It is the largest US virtual MVPD by paid subscribers and the only platform that can sell NFL Sunday Ticket as a bundled add-on. The 2025 Disney carriage standoff — 15 days dark, $110 million off ESPN’s quarter, ESPN Unlimited folded into the Base Plan as part of the truce — established that YouTube TV is now large enough that legacy programmers can no longer dictate carriage terms unilaterally. The December 2025 tiered-plan restructuring is the next pivot: a vMVPD that grew up selling one big bundle is unbundling itself before regulators or competitors force it to.
Recent coverage
- platforms YouTube Ads Hit $9.88B in Q1 — The Subscription Mix Is Catching Up
- business deals DAZN Buys ViewLift After Failing to Buy the RSNs Themselves
- devices distribution The Cord-Cutting Cliff Stalled in Q1 2026. The Consensus Hasn't Caught Up.
- devices distribution The Cord-Cutting Cliff Stalled in Q1 2026. The Consensus Hasn't Caught Up.
- platforms ESPN Preps Roughly 30 Layoffs After Disney Books $110M YouTube TV Hit
- policy regulation Carr's FCC Pressed Streaming on Three Fronts in 10 Days
Elsewhere
- YouTube TV — Watch & DVR Live Sports, Shows & News
- Introducing YouTube TV Plans, launching early 2026
- NFL, Google announce agreement to distribute NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, Primetime Channels
- The Exclusive Home of NFL Sunday Ticket
- ESPN Took $110 Million Hit From YouTube TV Blackout Last Fall
- YouTube officially launches YouTube TV in select markets