YouTube is reportedly preparing a new product aimed at sports fans. In 2026, YouTube TV is poised to expand its offering with a lineup of genre-specific skinny bundles, including a package based around live sports.
Sports Business Journal reported that YouTube TV has ten new bundles in the works. Among that group, the subscription offering for sports fans is most intriguing. YouTube knows just how valuable sports broadcast rights can be — that’s why it’s paying about $2 billion per season to distribute the NFL Sunday Ticket football package.
Sports rights also played a pivotal role in the protracted carriage dispute between Disney and YouTube. Some analysts argued that Disney’s holdout could reduce its reliance on distribution partners as it looks to clear a path for its new ESPN app. That direct-to-consumer offering includes all content from The Worldwide Leader In Sports, and it can also be bundled with the similarly new Fox One service.
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If YouTube TV is going to convince consumers that no other streamer can offer better live sports coverage, then it needs a killer lineup. The upcoming skinny bundle is rumored to have a comprehensive channel list: It could bring together the ESPN family, Turner Sports channels, Fox’s FS1, and the NBC Sports Network under one roof. All of the basic network channels would be included as well.
For sports fans, that would be groundbreaking. It would mean no more bouncing between Paramount+ and HBO Max during March Madness. Baseball fans could watch playoff games on TBS, FOX, and ESPN in a single app. And YouTube would gain a bargaining chip it could deploy in any future carriage negotiations.
The planned bundle also connects to a different dispute involving Disney and YouTube TV. Earlier this year, the Mouse House sued YouTube in an attempt to stop its rival from poaching Justin Connolly, an experienced sports streaming executive. The two parties reached a settlement in October, and Connolly is now playing a key role in the development of the upcoming skinny bundle, according to Sports Business Journal.
Can Connolly use his ESPN experience to create a streaming service that appeals to sports fans around the world? That would be, from YouTube TV’s perspective, a veritable home run.
