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YouTube TV moved a major channel to a $15-a-month add-on

YouTube TV this week shot an email to subscribers warning that it’s moved a major Spanish-language channel from its base package to an optional add-on. The change took effect on August 4.

Universo, which is owned by NBCUniversal, now resides in the “Spanish Plus” add-on. It costs $10 a month for the first six months before jumping to $15 a month. The add-on has a free seven-day trial. In addition to the Spanish Plus add-on, YouTube TV also has a standalone Spanish Plan — simply called “The Spanish Plan” — that gets you more than two dozen Spanish-language channels for $35 a month. You can subscribe to that plan without also subscribing to the YouTube TV base plan.

YouTube TV app icon on Apple TV.
Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

The good news for folks who have enjoyed Universo until now is that anything you’ve recorded from that channel will remain in your library for up to nine months. So set a reminder for April 2023, perhaps, if you’re worried about those recordings.

YouTube TV has more than 5 million subscribers at last count, with a single base plan of about 100 channels for $65 a month. It’s also one of the only ways to stream any live TV in 4K resolution — specifically, sports — and there’s a fair amount of on-demand content available in 4K, too, as part of the “4K Plus” package that adds another $20 a month to your bill.

There also are a fair number of other optional add-ons available for YouTube TV, including a Sports Plus package, HBO Max, Showtime, and AMC+, to name but a few, which should help if you’re trying to decide between YouTube TV and Hulu With Live TV.

YouTube TV is available on every major streaming platform in the United States, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Android TV, Apple TV, on smart TVs, and in a web browser.

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Phil Nickinson
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