YouTube TV goes nationwide nearly two years after launch

[Shawn Knight]

Bottom line: It’s unclear why it took Google so long to make YouTube TV available nationwide, especially considering competitors like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now and Hulu with Live TV have catered to cord-cutters for a while now. Whatever the reason, it's here now and with more competition than ever, such services will only get better.

It’s been nearly two years since Google launched YouTube TV. The over-the-top streaming television service debuted in just five markets but eventually found its way to several other major markets. With the latest expansion, availability is nearly ubiquitous across the country.

Starting today, YouTube TV is rollout out to 95 additional markets with service covering more than 98 percent of households in the US.

The expanded rollout arrives just in time for Super Bowl LIII where the New England Patriots will battle the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 3. The game airs on CBS and can be viewed for free using an antenna.

YouTube TV starts at $40 per month and includes six accounts per household, a cloud DVR with unlimited storage and access to more than 60 channels. Premium channels can be added a la carte. Subscribers can watch on any screen and are free to cancel at any time.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/78401-youtube-tv-goes-nationwide-nearly-two-years-after.html

 

[psycros]

Youtube TV pros:

* Six accounts should be enough for anyone.
* If you already use Google for everything it keeps your online life centralized.

Youtube TV cons:

* $40 a month is highest basic streaming sub I've heard of and nearly all premium content costs extra. (I don't follow streaming that closely though so there may have been a price jump across the market I didn't hear about.)
* Its Google, who is already far too nosy for anyone's good except the marketeers, repressive governments and cyber-crimnials to whom Google sells you out.
* Cloud DVR is inferior to local storage in every way but one: you only need enough space to run any required software.
* Unless you have either a fairly new smart TV or an HTPC you're limited to using Chromecast devices which are inferior to almost everyone else's, particularly Amazon's. Chromecast dongles also require extra steps for jailbreaking and still won't do everything a $20 Fire Stick will do.
* Now that its available throughout the "free world" if the service doesn't meet company expectations it probably won't survive for long.

 

[Uncle Al]

You forgot one ..... they have now replaced a good deal of timely programming with a barrage of refuns and only about one quarter are first run stuff ..... I'm getting ready to dump them; just not worth the $$ for the same old stuff .....