YouTube TV has passed 10 million subscribers in 2026, making it the third-largest pay TV provider in the United States behind Charter and Comcast, and putting it on track to become the largest by 2027 by some projections. The service holds roughly 44 percent of the US live TV streaming market, with a subscriber base now larger than Hulu plus Live TV, Sling TV and Fubo combined.

The sports package keeps getting stronger. The standalone Sports Plan, launched in early 2026, bundles ESPN Unlimited at no extra charge following carriage talks that wrapped ahead of its September 1, 2026 rollout. The tier includes local ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and CW affiliates where available, plus ESPN channels, FS1 and FS2, conference networks, NFL Network, NBA TV and the Golf Channel, with YouTube TV’s unlimited DVR and multiview features intact. The standard $82.99 base plan carries the same sports lineup with entertainment and news networks added.

Against budget rival Sling TV, whose parent company is navigating bankruptcy, YouTube TV’s advantages are breadth and stability: more than 100 channels in most markets, local coverage reaching roughly 98 percent of US households, and carriage deals with Disney, Fox and NBCUniversal that held steady through 2026 without blackouts. Sling counters with lower prices and day and weekend passes for event-only viewers.

For creators, the subscriber milestone matters because YouTube TV is YouTube’s beachhead on the television. Every carriage win and bundle addition pulls more prime-time hours into Google’s ecosystem, where YouTube’s own creators compete for the same living-room attention. Sports and live commentary channels should note the ESPN Unlimited bundling: the sports audience YouTube is assembling on TV is the same audience most likely to discover sports creators on the main platform.