Roger Fingas
Live streaming service YouTube TV is now officially available across the U.S., though some small gaps remain and other regions may lack access to one or more of the four major broadcasters.
The service should be accessible by 98 percent of Americans, YouTube said in an announcement, promising that the remaining 2 percent will come onboard shortly. Prior to this week YouTube TV was already in the country's "top 100" markets, but another 95 have been added.
The expansion is presumably geared towards becoming a destination for this year's NFL Super Bowl, scheduled for Feb. 3. The game is one of the few remaining TV "events" in a world of on-demand streaming, attracting tens of millions of viewers and even more in advertiser dollars. Some Americans will even buy new TVs in prepartion for gameday parties.
Parts of YouTube's coverage map lack ABC, Fox, and/or NBC, The Verge commented. That won't interfere with the Super Bowl, which is on CBS, but one of the selling points of YouTube TV has been access to the "Big Four" broadcasters, something other streaming TV options can't always offer.
Other features of the service include an unlimited cloud DVR and support for up to 6 accounts per household. It currently costs $40 per month after a free trial, with add-on packages for channels like Showtime and AMC Premiere. Conspicuously absent though is HBO, along with Viacom channels such as Comedy Central.
Supported Apple devices include Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs.
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7 Comments
SuperBowl*
really frustrating, my market is in the top 100 and is not available yet
Supposedly been added but sign up still says no go but it's all good was only gonna check out the free trial happy with tablo/directv now.
$40 a month...? Seriously?? That's on top of ISP costs too. My cable ISP's response to the killing of net neutrality so far? Metering. In a time of increased streaming, they're adding caps. Now, we have data limits and overage fees on all accounts. My 'standard' $60/mo tier provided moderate speeds and 300GB a month. Between software upgrades/downloads, Netflix/Prime streaming, Apple Music streaming, online gaming and daily browsing, I exceeded that every month for the past three months. It really wasn't hard to do. Now they are forcing me to move up a tier as a result. $100/mo. Hopefully the 500GB/mo it comes with is enough. I could add another $40/mo for 'youtube TV', put more stress on my data cap and my wallet, but why...?
I have YTTV and it is generally OK but see peering issues on some live sports events. The iOS app also needs work- it does not remember streaming settings on iOS when you change channels.
It lacks BBC World News, Bloomberg, CNN international and HBO. Do not care about the missing Viacom channels.