Alphabet Is Preparing Its Death Blow to Cable TV as We Know It – The Motley Fool
Alphabet Is Preparing Its Death Blow to Cable TV as We Know It
December 15, 2025 — 12:05 pm EST,
Written by James Brumley for The Motley Fool->
Key Points
- Alphabet’s YouTube TV will soon be rolling out several different genres of skinny cable-television bundles.
- This is a strategic shift that studios and cable channels have been especially hoping to avoid.
- Alphabet can afford to offer these bundles because it doesn’t necessarily need them to turn a direct profit.
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The U.S. cable television industry was already hanging by a thread. Technology giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) may be about to completely snip it.
This is the likely outcome of a move that Alphabet’s cable-television alternative — YouTube TV — recently announced it would soon be making. Although details are still scant, the company plainly said, “Early next year, we’ll launch YouTube TV Plans, bringing more choice and flexibility to our subscribers with over 10 genre-specific packages.”
And yes, all-important sports is one of those genres. This sports option will include programming from at least Fox, Comcast‘s NBC, and Walt Disney‘s ESPN — brands that are also trying to build stand-alone sports entertainment services outside of cable television with much of the same programming content that YouTube TV’s sports-centric bundle will offer. They’ll now be competing with their own distribution partner.
It’s the cable companies, however, that have the most to worry about here. The launch of YouTube TV’s new offerings may well mark the beginning of the end of the cable business as we know it today.
Already vulnerable
It’s certainly no secret that the country’s cable television business has been on the ropes for over a decade now. Just since early 2018, industry stalwarts Xfinity, Spectrum, and Altice have shed 16.6 million paying customers. That’s a loss of nearly 40% of its total customer base during that seven-year stretch, matching the pace of attrition other names in the business have also experienced.
Data sources: Comcast, Optimum Communications, Charter Communications. Chart by author.
Blame the rise of streaming, of course — it’s just cheaper. Then again, so is cable-alternative YouTube TV. Although still relatively more expensive than a wide lineup of multiple streaming services, its starting price point of $82.99 per month is also considerably less than the nation’s average cable bill after local taxes and fees are added to the mix. That’s how YouTube TV has amassed on the order of 10 million customers just since its limited launch in 2017, followed by its nationwide availability as of 2019.
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