Skip to main content

Google signs with CBS as plans for its live TV streaming service move forward

The live TV streaming battle is beginning to heat up. While the two major players are Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, other companies are rushing to launch their own services. These companies included Hulu, DirecTV, and Google, which was reported earlier this year to be working on a service of its own called Unplugged. Now the company has signed a deal with CBS to carry its programming on the upcoming service, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This deal makes CBS the first major broadcast network to sign on for the new streaming service, which will likely be tied into YouTube. This would mean that Google’s service could carry not only CBS TV shows, but all of its content, including live NFL games. This deal would also allow Google’s offering to carry the CBS Sports network.

Recommended Videos

Whether Google’s deal with CBS allows it to carry the channel nationally, or simply in a limited number of markets — currently the case with PlayStation Vue — remains to be seen. Google is reportedly paying CBS a much higher rate per subscriber than most, which could point toward the network being carried nationally.

Google is also reportedly nearing a deal with 21st Century Fox that would encompass its FX, Fox Sports, and National Geographic channels. In addition, Google is said to be in advanced talks with Disney and Viacom to carry programming. For the time being, Google is keeping quiet on the matter, as are CBS, Viacom, and Fox, all of which have declined to comment on the issue.

Google’s live TV offering is expected to launch in early 2017, and will reportedly be priced between $30 and $40, at least for base programming. This is similar to Hulu’s offering, thought to be priced at $35, and which is also expected to launch early next year. Specific details about Google’s service, such as whether it will offer some kind of cloud DVR storage, are currently unknown.

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
YouTube TV looks to lessen live latency with broadcast delay feature
The YouTube TV broadcast delay feature.

If you've ever streamed live TV — particularly a sporting event — while also following the same event on social media, you'll have likely noticed that latency is a thing. That is, that what you're watching is behind what folks are talking about online. Latency has always been the nemesis of the internet. It causes web pages to load slower. Games to freeze up. And video to lag behind.

But a new feature slipped into YouTube TV (and as noted by the YouTube TV folks on Reddit) aims to give you a little control over things. Specifically, it's meant to help reduce that broadcast delay.

Read more
YouTube TV still leads after latest round of streaming numbers
YouTube TV and Hulu apps on the Roku homescreen.

Three of the four major live streaming services in the U.S. have reported their earnings for the third quarter, and the results are pretty clear: YouTube TV (probably) still leads the pack — and by a healthy margin. We have to hedge that just a tad because Google doesn't give regular updates on streaming statistics, unlike the other parent companies at play here.

But with that said, here's how things break down:

Read more
Everyone is missing the point on streaming video
App icons on the Apple TV homescreen.

Yes, there are a million ways to watch streaming video. And that's the way it should be. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

There's a tremendous amount of gnashing of teeth anytime a streaming service increases its prices. There's a scramble by media outlets to update SEO-friendly posts and quickly offer alternatives, as if this was all a zero-sum game and you're able to watch the same things on all the services. Or maybe it's time to go back to cable altogether because streaming video is just too darn expensive and it's too hard to find what you want to watch. We're in one of those times in which it feels like all the services are increasing all the prices, to the extent that Engadget has plainly asked "Is streaming even still worth it?"

Read more