Google wants YouTube to be your streaming hub of choice

Apple, Amazon, and Roku all allow you to subscribe to third-party streaming services using one login. For example, Prime Video Channels lets you sign up for Paramount Plus via your Amazon account, leveraging your Amazon billing info and letting you watch via Prime Video.

Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube plans to launch a so-called “channel store” in the same vein, citing people close to these discussions. This initiative has apparently been in the works for 18 months and could launch as soon as this fall.

The outlet explains that YouTube’s channel store would allow users to choose individual streaming services via the YouTube app. By comparison, the company’s YouTube TV service offers over 80 channels for $65 a month.

In any event, a YouTube channel store could potentially be more convenient than directly subscribing to various streaming services. This new approach would theoretically allow you to sign up and pay for subscriptions via your Google account, reducing the need for separate streaming accounts and payment credentials.

In saying so, companies offering video channels or a channel store make money by taking a slice of revenue from each subscription via their service. So we do have concerns about price hikes down the line.