YouTube TV: Everything you need to know about the TV streaming service
YouTube TV: Everything you need to know about the TV streaming service
Update: YouTube TV just expanded in a big way, becoming available in 50% of US households, YouTube announced
on August 17. The service is now in 14 additional markets, with 17 more
in the pipeline over the coming weeks. YouTube TV is also expanding its
network lineup to offer more viewing options at no extra fee.
YouTube
TV has finally arrived, and though it started small with five markets,
it's now available in 29, with 17 more planned for the coming weeks.
That covers 50% of US households, according to YouTube, which is no
small feat.
YouTube TV is joining the ‘established players’ in
the cord-cutting world that include Sling TV and PlayStation Vue and
relative newcomer, DirecTV Now.
But, out of the group, YouTube TV has the most potential.
How to watch YouTube TV
YouTube TV is compatible with iOS and Android phones and tablets,
meaning you can stream app video content to your television, too.
That
makes both the Chromecast and Apple TV compatible by extension, and
Google confirmed in September that it's working on both an Android TV
and Roku app for YouTube TV.
Why YouTube TV is new, but important
Why is YouTube TV going to be big? Well, while PlayStation Vue and
Sling TV had to carve out a new audience for their products, YouTube TV
already has one – one billion users that live in 88 countries and speak
76 different languages.
Sure, both Sony and DISH are large corporations, but do they have one billion people using their products to stream videos every year? Not likely.
OK,
so YouTube TV is going to be big, you get that. But what exactly is
YouTube TV and why should you care? Let’s talk about it.
What is YouTube TV?
YouTube TV is a US-exclusive live TV streaming service – think
Netflix but instead of on-demand TV shows and movies you’ll see cable
channels like ABC, NBC, FOX, ESPN and Disney among many, many more. It’s
like cable in the sense that everything is divided by channel and, yes,
you’ll have to pay a monthly fee for it, but the difference here is
that you’ll be able to take shows whenever and wherever you go.
Well,
sort of. Because YouTube TV has mainstream local stations (NBC, ABC,
FOX, etc...), it initially launched in a few cities and then expanded
out into other regions – similar to how PlayStation Vue started.
Loading
up the service for the first time, we were recommended shows like
Archer, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons and many more. We easily found
enough content to keep us entertained for the time-being, plus will
have plenty to watch next time we log-on thanks to YouTube TV's stellar
Cloud DVR.
Cloud DVR, if you've never heard that term before,
allows you to record your favorite shows as they air and save them,
well, to the cloud so that you can watch them later. It’s TiVo, but
everything’s online. YouTube TV promises unlimited storage for shows for
up to nine months – a serious advantage over the competition which
usually only offer 28 days of storage. YouTube TV on every device? We hope so.Also,
unlike Sling TV which wants you to buy a more expensive package to
allow more than one user to watch TV at a time, YouTube says that its
service will allow up to six people in the family to access the service
and will allow up to three of them tune into the service simultaneously
on the same account – a big advantage when you’re looking to replace
cable and you have a big family.
The other thing we know about
YouTube TV is its price: $35 a month. For comparison, that’s slightly
more expensive than Sling TV’s basic $20-per-month package and a few
dollars less than PlayStation Vue’s basic $39 package that includes
local stations like CBS, NBC, etc…
But, to sweeten the deal, pay for your first month of service and you'll get a brand-new Chromecast for free.
Cut to the chase
What is YouTube TV? A live TV streaming service like Sling TV
When is it coming out? It will be out in the next few months
How much will it cost? $35 per month, unless you get an add-on package
Where can you watch it? Anywhere in the 29 US markets where it's available
What channels are included?
Again, we don’t have a complete picture of who exactly YouTube roped
into the deal, but we do know a few of the big players. First off, all
the mainstream local channels are on-board: NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX. That
means every NFL game up to and including the Super Bowl, are yours to
watch every Sunday.
Now that YouTube TV has arrived, we also know
that AMC has signed on, which means you'll still be able to get your
Walking Dead fix on Sundays.
Beyond the local stuff, you’ve got
all the channels that fall under the umbrella of those companies – i.e.
ESPN, CSN, FOX Sports, USA, FX, Disney, E!, Bravo, SyFy, FXX, National
Geographic, MSNBC, FOX News, CNBC and more.
On top of all those channels we’ve already mentioned, you’ll also get
access to YouTube’s own network of shows, YouTube Red Originals. Shows
on this ‘network’ (a term we use very lightly here) include Scare
PewDiePie and exclusive films that you’ve probably never heard of. This
really isn’t a huge draw for most people, but hey, maybe the money that
comes in from YouTube TV can be used to crank up the quality of this
content to near-Netflix levels.
Now, like Amazon Video, you can
actually tack on additional premium stations for an extra fee. Right now
the list of premium offerings include FOX Soccer Plus and Showtime,
which will likely cost around $10 extra per month.
OK, so who’s
missing so far? Well, AMC, CNN, Comedy Central, Discovery, Food Network,
MTV and TNT aren’t there, which is a bit of a bummer, and there aren’t
as many channels for kids on YouTube TV as there are on Sling TV – a
potential problem for parents.
HBO hasn’t signed up for the
service yet either, which is strange considering that it peddles its
wares on Amazon Video, but then again you can always subscribe to HBO
Now if you really need your Game of Thrones on the go.
How is it different than YouTube Red?
This can be sort of confusing, so listen up. YouTube Red is an
ad-free version of YouTube that has a few fun features like allowing you
to keep a video playing even when your phone is turned off. A
subscription to YouTube Red also gives you access to the YouTube Red
Originals channel that we talked about earlier.
What YouTube Red won't allow you to do is watch live TV or cable TV content. For that you'll need YouTube TV.
YouTube
TV, like YouTube Red, will start as a US-only service and then might
possibly expand out into other territories. YouTube wants to roll its
Red service out to the UK sometime in 2017, but it's facing problems
doing so. It's more than likely YouTube TV would follow in that path,
unfortunately.
Is there some crossover potential here between
these two services? Absolutely. Maybe a subscription to YouTube TV also
nets you a free subscription to Red. But we'll just have to wait to find
out more from YouTube if that's the case.
Is YouTube TV a better deal than cable?
That’s a good question and a very pertinent one. The answer here is
‘maybe’. Depending on how many channels YouTube TV ends up with and how
easy it is to stream (hopefully YouTube won’t have the same performance
issues Sling TV and Vue have), then yes, it has the potential to be a
much better deal than cable.
Look at it this way: if you’re
already paying for internet service, you can tack on an extra $30 for
YouTube TV and maybe a $10-per-month subscription to Netflix and have
just as much content as you’d have from a cable TV service that usually
run $60-70 per month.
That being said, if you’re paying for one
of those bundles that allows you to package cable, internet and phone
service together, YouTube TV might not come out to be any less. You're still going to need cable (or HBO Now) for your Game of Thrones fixThe
benefits of going for a streaming service over a cable service are the
ability to watch shows wherever you go, the potential to use Cloud DVR
to save shows for later and the no-obligations contract that allows you
to cancel your account without a termination fee. On top of everything
else, you don’t need to rent a cable box from companies like Comcast,
Spectrum or AT&T, because the streaming service comes in through
whatever device you’re using.
If YouTube TV can offer as many
channels as basic cable does, without the need for a cable box and
12-month contract, we’ll consider it a win. If it can do all that, offer
Cloud DVR, a plethora of apps for devices like Roku, Apple TV and the
various game consoles and video-on-demand, it will be one of the best
streaming services on the planet.
So, when can you watch it? Right now. Just head over to tv.youtube.com to start your free trial.
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