YouTube TV

YouTube TV dropping Universo from the base plan, adding to paid add-on package

Andrew Romero | Aug 5 2022 - 9:09 am PT

YouTube TV has announced plans to drop NBC’s Universo from the paid Base Plan starting now. Though the channel isn’t going away, it’s still going to be locked behind a paywall as part of an additional paid package.

According to YouTube TV, Universo will be removed from the Base Plan, a $65/month subscription plan that provides plenty of great channels – or at least used to. Universo won’t be dropped completely from YouTube TV, however, it will cost viewers an extra $9.99/month for the first six months. The much-loved Hispanic channel will be moved into the YouTube TV Spanish Plus add-on, which at most costs $14.99/month after the initial 6-month period.

Starting August 4, 2022, Universo will no longer be available as a part of the YouTube TV Base Plan. However, access to any previous Library recordings from this channel will remain in your account for up to 9 months with no action required.

It’s unfortunate to see Universo leave the YouTube TV Base Plan, which already costs a pretty penny. The only silver lining here is that signing up for the Spanish Plus add-on gets you a few other quality channels. Channels like ESPN Deportes, Discovery en Español, and CNN en Español all live in the Spanish Plus plan.

This change is already in motion, and new shows and programs on YouTube TV won’t be recordable from Universo going forward unless you pay extra. If you have any recorded content from Universo, you’ll still be able to watch it as many times as you want for up to nine months. After that, those recordings are gone.

YouTube TV has been dealing with its issues this past year, much like many other companies. We saw a lot of drama with the TV provider and NBC, citing a large contract dispute that threatened the removal of popular channels. Though those channels ended up staying, it seems we haven’t seen the last of NBC channel shifts.

We’re not entirely sure what spurred this sudden move. We know Universo is owned by NBC, so this could possibly be a result of the past year’s tensions between them and YouTube TV, though we’re not entirely sure.