YouTube TV Review

At $82.99 per monthYouTube is one of the most expensive video streaming services (though Hulu + Live TV charges the same price). Sling's Orange and Blue plans only cost $40 or $45 per month ($60 per month combined)but their live channel lineups are limited. If you want to keep costs downPhilo charges $28 per month for about 60 channelsthough most fall in the entertainment genrehence the abnormally low price for a live TV streaming service.

As for other live TV streaming servicesFubo starts at $79.99 per monthbut it has pricier plans. The most expensive is DirecTV Stream starting at $101.98 per monthand it offers more complete channel packages (including those with RSNs).

On-demand services are much cheaper but appeal to a different subset of subscribers. Netflixfor examplestarts at $6.99 per monthwhile Disney+ is $9.99 per month. Peacock has a robust $7.99 planwhile Tubi is free.

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You can also subscribe to YouTube TV's $10.99-per-month Sports Plus packagewhich includes NFL RedZoneFOX College SportsFOX Soccer PlusGOLTVMAVTV Motorsports NetworkStadiumand TVG. YouTube TV's Entertainment Plus add-on bundles MaxShowtimeand Starz for $29.99 per month.

Further blurring the line between cable and online streamingYouTube TV lets you subscribe to individual channels. The a la carte channels include CinemaxCuriosity Streamand Shudder (don't expect giants like ESPN or Fox Sports 1)and you can add or drop channels whenever you want. Amazon Prime Video offers similar functionality. YouTube viewers can bypass YouTube TV by subscribing directly to Primetime Channels. Stilla la carte channels are an appreciated and affordable added online flexibility in an otherwise expensive and rigid live TV framework.

YouTube TV is available on the webmobile platforms (Android and iOS)media streaming devices (Apple TVChromecastand Fire TV)and select smart TVs (such as those from LGSamsungand Sony). You can download the YouTube TV app for the newest game consolesincluding the PlayStation and Xbox.

YouTube TV lets you create six user accounts but limits you to three simultaneous users (which is about average). Google's 4K Plus add-on costs $9.99 per month. It unlocks support for unlimited simultaneous streams on your home Wi-Fi network, 4K streams for select live channels and on-demand contentand the ability to watch DVR recordings offline on mobile devices.

YouTube TV features a collection of more than 100 channelswhich stacks up well against the competition. In factit offers one of the most complete channel lineups of all the video streaming services we've reviewed. Starting with the localsyou get all the major networks such as ABCCBSFOXand NBC. YouTube TV is the only live streaming service we've reviewed that offers local PBS channels. Some of the news channels on YouTube TV include BBC AmericaCNBCCNNFOX Newsand MSNBC. That lineup compares favorably with competing services.

Apart from the broadcast affiliatessports channels on YouTube TV include CBS SportsESPNESPN 2NFL NetworkNBC Sportsand NBA TV. HoweverYouTube TV's RSN coverage is spotty. It includes all NBC Sports RSNsbut it lacks AT&T-owned RSN (except SportsNet NY) and every Bally Sports RSN (previouslythese were FOX Sports RSNs). The limited RSN coverage has significant implications for your ability to watch regular-season MLBNBAand NHL gamesso make sure to check which channel airs your local team's games before committing to any sports streaming service.

Out-of-market Sunday afternoon NFL games are also on YouTube through NFL Sunday Ticket. For more NFL coveragetake a look at our roundup of the best NFL streaming services. We also have roundups of the best MLB streaming servicesthe best NBA streaming servicesand the best NHL streaming services.

YouTube TV also serves an industry-leading variety of entertainment and life content. Channels include AMCCartoon NetworkThe CWFXNational GeographicTNTand USA. Additions from the Discovery network include Animal PlanetDiscovery ChannelFood NetworkHGTVTLCand Travel Channel. A content deal with ViaconCBS added 14 channelsincluding BETBET HerCMTComedy CentralMTVMTV2MTV ClassicNickelodeonParamount NetworkTV LandVH1Nick Jr.Nicktoonsand TeenNick.

YouTube TV's content mix is most similar to that of Hulu + Live TV, especially since you get access to some on-demand shows and movies from YouTube TV's channels. Other live TV services may offer a better range of content for specific areas. For exampleFubo matches YouTube TV's sports lineup and differentiates itself with international sports content. Philo is specifically focused on life and entertainment channels; if that is all you want to watchyou can save money by subscribing to it instead of YouTube TV.

YouTube TV's interface isas you might expectsimilar to the regular YouTube website. The design looks cleanand most elements are clad in white or light gray. There's even a dark mode you can enable in the settings. In the top right corneryou'll find a robust search tool for finding content to watch from specific genres or channelswhich is helpful given YouTube TV's extensive channel catalog. You can even concatenate searches. For exampleour search for "science fiction + 2004" brought up a result for an upcoming airing of iRobot. From the settings panelyou can manage subscription detailsbilling informationand subscriptions to add-on channels. There are also options for setting up family accountscustomizing what appears in the channel guideand keeping tabs on (or pausing) your watch and search history.

You mainly navigate between three top-level tabs: LibraryHomeand Live Guide. The Library section organizes everything you've recorded in sections for new contentscheduled recordingsand all recordings. You can sort the last section by content type (showsmoviessportsand events)alphabeticallyrecentnessand popularity. A recent update enhances these tools for better organizing and more specific filtering in a cleaner interface.

The Home section is where you discover content to watch. At the topYouTube TV shows curated contentwhich is based on things you have searched for or already watched. As you move down the pagevarious categories of content populate horizontally scrolling categories.

In the Live Guide sectionyou can scroll down the list of available channels to see what's currently playing. As mentionedyou can exclude the channels you don't want to see here via the settings menu. To watch somethingsimply click on the live preview. The guide now lets you see what's available up to seven days in the futureand the new denser layout provides more custom recommendations and information for channels and content. It lets you quickly keep up with the channels you watch the most.

On the Now Playing screenyou get a standard set of playback toolsincluding 15-second fast-forward and reverse buttons on the right. On the leftyou can toggle closed-captioningselect a streaming qualitypick an audio trackand change the playback speed. You can even click the information button for more details of the playing content. For exampleclicking this button on an NBA game brought up info on the starting lineup and standings for the involved teams. Scrolling down from thereyou can switch between any of the main three content tabs.

YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV notably both stream live channels in 1080p/60fpsas does Paramount+ for many of its local CBS network stations. YouTube TV subscribers now get support for Dolby 5.1 surround sound on select devicestoo.

With YouTube TV's 4K Plus add-onit joins Fubo as the only other live TV streaming service that offers any 4K live streams. As with Fubonot all live streams will be available in this resolutionbut YouTube TV's press release about the 4K Plus add-on mentions that major sports events and live content from NBC and ESPN will stream in 4K. We hope YouTube TV follows Fubo's excellent practice of clearly listing all of the upcoming 4K events. The 4K Plus add-on also brings 4K on-demand content to YouTube TV from sources such as FXDiscovery Networksand Tastemade. Both Hulu and Fubo also offer on-demand 4K content.

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To test YouTube TV's performancewe streamed a Thursday Night Football game on a Windows 10 desktop. We didn't encounter any performance lag or stutteringand the audio kept up well with the pace of the game. On a mobile devicewe launched a stream of an MSNBC news show at 1080p and 60 frames per second (fps)and streaming performance was good.

Notehoweverthat the streaming resolution will vary based on the source. For examplesince the football game was broadcast by Fox Sportsit was limited to 720p resolution and 60fps. The picture quality still looked sharpbut on a 1080p monitorwe definitely noticed the resolution downgradeespecially when we compared it to streaming an NBA game in 1080p.

Of coursesince YouTube TV is a cable-replacement serviceyou will see the same (and the same number of) ads that you would with a regular cable service. The benefit of YouTube TVthoughis that its DVR functionality lets you fast-forward over ads in your recordings.

YouTube TV's multiview feature lets sports fans watch up to four streams at once on the same screen. A recent update lets you build your own multiview experience by picking custom games. In our testsYouTube TV bundled March Madness games in multiple multiview groups so we could keep an eye on more than one bracket matchup. Naturallythis picture-in-picture-like feature let us jump to individual games when we wanted a closer look at the actionand did so in a swift fashion.

When you have sports fired upYouTube TV displays cool sports data such as key playsscoresand stats. While watching a Knicks gamewe enjoyed seeing the top scorers at a glanceand clips of monster dunks and dagger threes. You can even connect your fantasy football account (NFL Fantasy or Yahoo Fantasy) and track stats via YouTube TV's Fantasy View.

YouTube TV's DVR features compare favorably with the competition. For examplethere is no DVR storage limit; as long as you are connected to the internetyou can add as many shows and movies to your library as you desire. Furthermorerecordings are saved for nine months. And with the 4K Plus add-onyou can now download recordings for offline viewing. No other live TV service I've reviewed offers this feature. You can pauserewindand forward through any recordingsas well as jump to specific segments within a recording too; for exampleto a discussion of a particular topic in a news recording.

For comparisonFubo and Hulu both let you record unlimited hours of content. Sling TV lets you record up to 50 hours of content for no extra charge. With all those servicesyou can keep your recordings for as long as you maintain a subscription.

To initiate a DVR recordingsimply hit the plus button beneath any playing show or from the channel guide. To remove content from your libraryclick the Expand button and then the Remove button. One feature we appreciate is the ability to set up DVR recordings for specific sports teams. For examplewhen we clicked the Expand button on an NFL gameit allowed us to add both teams to our library. YouTube TV can then record upcoming games of those teams as they air. YouTube TV may soon offer the ability to watch DVR content offline.

All of the channels we watched had closed-captioning optionswhich is standard for most services. It lagged slightly behind the video stream in testingbut the subtitles seemed mostly accurate. YouTube TV includes a few options for customizing the subtitle textincluding the fontfont colorand background opacitybut notablyit's missing an option to change the text position.

You won't find anything like you get with Amazon Prime Video or Netflix. When this option is enabled on those servicesscenes and actions are accompanied by descriptions of audible and visual eventssuch as if the phone rings or a character exits the room.

YouTube TV lets you enable a filter that limits the service to TV-YTV-Y7and TV-G shows and G and PG films. Howeveryou must set this preference on every device rather than at a profile level. Sling TVon the other handlets you restrict content based on individual show and movie ratings and lock those settings with a PIN.

For more on streamingcheck out five reasons to ditch your video subscription and keep cable (especially if you're interested in live TV). Learn how to pick streaming services that fit your budgetand enjoy all sorts of reality show trash. Finallycheck out our recommended streaming video guides if you don’t know what to watch. The Best YouTube Channels is worth exploring for no-cost entertainment.

We downloaded YouTube TV on an Android device and had no trouble signing into our account. The mobile app looks and works similarly to the desktop interfacewhich is good. The interface has clean linesattractive colorsand clear tabs to separate content. A dark mode is now available on mobiletoo. YouTube TV's excellent search and library organization tools are also present.

You navigate via the same three tabs: LibraryHomeand Live. On the Now Playing screenyou can enable closed captioningchange the streaming qualityor toggle notifications for the program. You can also view the programming set to air next and other recommended content.

On our devicethe YouTube TV app also supports a picture-in-picture (PIP) modeso you can monitor currently playing content without needing to remain in the app. The minimized window can be dragged to any corner of your device screen and sits on top of the active window.

A VPN can help you secure your privacy online and spoof your location. Howevermany video streaming services may block you from using a VPN since some content is subject to licensing rules or other geographic restrictions. YouTube TV's service is only available in the USand the available channels depend on your location.

For referencewe tested YouTube TV with the free version of TunnelBear and encountered connection issues. Even if you find a VPN that works with one video streaming serviceit is less likely to work with all the ones you subscribe to. Video streaming compatibility should not be the main reason you use a VPNthough. Insteadyou should choose the VPN that best protects your presence online.

Video Streaming Services: What You Should Know

If you're looking to leave behind your cable subscriptionYouTube TV is an excellent option. With its expanded channel lineupthe service now covers the newssportsand entertainment genres with aplomb. YouTube TV also features best-in-class DVR functionalitytop-notch add-onsand well-designed interfaces across many platforms. The main downsides are the limited RSN coverage and the high price for people who want the whole lineupnot just a la carte channels. As with any live TV serviceyou still have to deal with the annoyances of cable televisionsuch as ads during live TV and potential streaming resolution limitations by the broadcast networks. StillYouTube TV is a seamless experience that is worthy of our Editors' Choice award alongside Hulu.