Google streaming service ‘could launch in Feb’

Google could reportedly launch new subscription streaming service Google Unplugged as early as February after agreeing terms with anumber of major partners.

According to US financial news site TheStreet, Google has now either reached final or tentative agreements with CBS, Disney, Viacom and 21^st Century Fox, with talks still ongoing with Time Warner.

The report claims that YouTube will operate the ‘skinny bundle’ online TV service and that the launch has been pushed to February or later, after initially being expected at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The news follows reports by both The Wall Street Journal and Reuters last year claiming that Google’s over-the-top offering is likely to launch in the first quarter of 2017, priced somewhere between US$25 and US$40 per month.

The WSJ said that Unplugged will consist of live TV channels, will be aimed at cord-cutters or those who have never taken a subscription pay TV offering, and is likely to be separate from the YouTube Red subscription service that YouTube launched in the US last year.