YouTube starts its own subscription service for streaming live TV
YouTube has announced that it will start its own subscription service for streaming live TV in the coming months. This service, called YouTube TV, offers regular online content from YouTube in addition to live broadcasts from American channels.
The service will be available for Chromecast-enabled TVs, online through the YouTube TV website, and through the YouTube TV app on Android and iOS. The service will also be available via Google Home. For $35 a month, users can watch the four major US networks, namely NBC, FOX, CBA and ABC. In addition, 35 other cable channels will be available, including the sports channel ESPN and regional sports networks. For the monthly subscription, the user gets a total of six accounts, even though only three streams can be viewed at the same time per subscription. YouTube has announced that.
Through a DVR-like mode, Google cloud allows users to record all programs with unlimited storage space. An unlimited number of programs can be recorded simultaneously; these are kept for nine months. YouTube TV will include a search function that can make suggestions based on topics and keywords entered. You can browse a tab of live programs and search by genre. YouTube TV should also support Google Home’s voice search, but it didn’t work during a live demo in Los Angeles, The Verge reports.
Users will also be able to access shows and movies that were previously exclusive to YouTube Red. This service was already available and cost $10 a month, removing ads, giving users access to Red content, and allowing users to record individual videos. Although YouTube TV gives users access to the videos of Red Originals, watching ad-free, for example, is not part of YouTube TV.
The service does not offer channels from the Viacom network, such as Comedy Central or MTV. CNN, AMC Networks, Discovery Communications and Time Warner are also missing from the offer. Another limitation is the fact that NFL football is available on TV and PC, but not on mobile devices. This is because Verizon has the exclusive streaming rights for mobile devices.
YouTube TV will initially only be available in certain parts of America; probably only in a number of large cities for the time being. It is unknown whether YouTube has plans to release the service in other countries.