GOOG Alphabet Inc

By Jack Nicas and Shalini Ramachandran 

Google's YouTube on Tuesday unveiled a web-TV service that will offer a package of over 40 broadcast and cable channels for $35 a month, making the tech giant the latest entrant in a race to win over millions of consumers who are shifting away from traditional TV.

The new service, dubbed YouTube TV, is set to launch in the next few months. It will have all the major broadcasters, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, as well as several dozen well-known cable channels, such as ESPN, FX, USA, MSNBC and Fox News.

Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., joins a crowded field of companies selling "skinny bundles" of TV channels over the web. They're targeting the rising numbers of "cord cutters," people who cancel their pay-TV connections, as well as "cord nevers," young people who have never paid for traditional TV. Pay-TV executives say there is a market of at least 10 million homes that only subscribe to broadband and not TV.

"There's no question millennials love great TV content," said YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki. "But what we've seen is they don't want to watch it in the traditional setting."

Other companies offering cable-style online-TV services include traditional operators like Dish Network Corp.'s Sling TV and AT&T's DirecTV Now, as well as new entrants like Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Vue and Hulu, which plans to launch a streaming skinny TV bundle soon for under $40 a month. Amazon.com Inc. has also been discussing plans for its own bundle with media companies.

So far, none of the existing web-TV offerings have been runaway successes, with some, such as DirecTV Now, facing technical hiccups and other issues early on. Analysts estimate that Sling TV, which launched first, has about 1.2 million subscribers today. A big issue for all companies launching skinny bundles is to secure rights to enough major TV channels while keeping the price in check.

Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com and Shalini Ramachandran at shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 28, 2017 16:39 ET (21:39 GMT)

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