The stealth return of cable, inside streaming apps
Cable isn’t dead. It’s being rebuilt inside streaming services. In a quiet but telling shift, YouTube TV is adding more local stations across the U.S., stitching together a lineup that looks a lot like the old cable bundle—just without the coaxial cable. The company is lighting up new news and entertainment subchannels in multiple states, betting that hometown news, weather, and sports still anchor viewing habits.
Here’s what’s new and what’s coming. One of the biggest additions is KOLO-DT3, a CW affiliate out of Reno, Nevada. Also joining: WMBB-DT2 in Panama City, Florida; KELO-DT4 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is slated to go live on September 20; and WWTI-DT2 in Watertown, New York, planned for November 2025. More local stations in Missouri and Maine are on the roadmap. The message is clear: local TV isn’t a relic—it’s a retention tool.
This strategy taps into a reality the industry learned the hard way. Even as streaming overtook traditional pay TV, households never stopped caring about local programming. Less than 70 million homes in the U.S. still have cable, but the appetite for local newscasts, school closings, severe weather coverage, and live sports hasn’t faded. Adding more affiliates plugs gaps in markets where viewers felt shortchanged by missing channels, especially networks like The CW that carry college sports and popular series.
It also signals a longer game. Google said earlier this year that YouTube TV had more than 8 million subscribers—tops among the live TV streamers—and growth now depends on serving regional tastes, not just piling on national networks. Local stations bring habitual viewing and loyal audiences. That’s the kind of stickiness streaming bundles need.
A bigger local lineup, market by market
Digital subchannels (those DT2, DT3, DT4 call signs) are the broadcast industry’s workhorse. They carry everything from The CW to 24/7 weather and syndicated shows, and they’re often controlled by major station owners. By picking up more of these feeds, YouTube TV widens its reach without reinventing the wheel.
- KOLO-DT3 (Reno, NV): CW affiliate now included.
- WMBB-DT2 (Panama City, FL): local subchannel joining the guide.
- KELO-DT4 (Sioux Falls, SD): scheduled to launch on September 20.
- WWTI-DT2 (Watertown, NY): planned for November 2025.
- Additional stations: expected in Missouri and Maine.
As these channels flip on, they’ll appear alongside existing locals in the service’s live guide. For viewers in affected markets, that means fewer workarounds—no separate apps, antennas, or switching inputs just to catch a local newscast or a CW game. For the platform, it means more time spent inside one app, which feeds both subscription retention and ad inventory.
If this feels familiar, it’s because it is. This is the old cable playbook: broaden local coverage, bundle it with national networks, and keep the viewer inside one interface. The difference now is delivery. Virtual “MVPDs” like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and Fubo ink carriage deals with broadcast groups (think Gray Television, Nexstar, Sinclair, Scripps), then stream those feeds over the internet. The distribution looks modern; the business logic is classic.
Sports make the case even stronger. The biggest games still live on broadcast networks and their affiliates—NFL on FOX and CBS, college football Saturdays on ABC, primetime on NBC, and CW’s growing slate of college sports. By filling in local gaps, YouTube TV reduces the risk of a Saturday or Sunday dead zone where the game you want simply isn’t available in your market.
There’s another layer: advertising. Local channels carry local ad breaks, and streaming unlocks more targeting. A larger map of locals means the platform can sell more addressable ad slots tied to specific markets. That matters when brand dollars follow regional sports, local elections, and weather-related spikes in viewing.
A reality check is fair. Pricing in live TV streaming has crept toward old-school cable levels. YouTube TV’s base plan sits at around $72.99 per month before taxes and add-ons, reflecting the cost of sports rights and retransmission fees for local stations. Carriage spats can still trigger temporary blackouts when deals lapse. And not every regional network is available everywhere. But the direction of travel is obvious: if the bundle is going to survive in streaming, it has to feel complete in your zip code.
For viewers, the practical impacts are straightforward:
- More familiar local brands in the guide, especially CW and other subchannels.
- Better coverage for local news, high school highlights, and community events.
- Fewer hoops to jump through on big sports weekends that rely on broadcast affiliates.
- Potential for future price pressure as more locals and sports flow in.
It’s easy to say cable is gone. But this expansion shows something else: the bundle didn’t vanish—it migrated. As YouTube TV wires in more subchannels from Nevada to Florida, South Dakota to New York—with Missouri and Maine next—it’s rebuilding the part of TV viewers trusted the most. The old local-first logic still wins. Only now, it streams.
