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YouTube Unveils YouTube TV, Its Live TV Streaming Service (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: After a year of rumors, YouTube is finally drawing back the curtain on its latest play for entertainment industry domination -- a live TV service. Distinct from YouTube Red, the new service YouTube TV, which has been in the works for years at Google's internet video behemoth, has quietly been inking contracts with media companies to distribute their content on its TV service. The service is fairly low-cost, with a family of six accounts available for $35 per month, and no long-term contract required. Earlier reports from the Wall Street Journal set pricing for the service somewhere between $25 and $40 per month. However, it will only launch in markets where it can offer full, live local broadcast feeds. That's planned for the months ahead, but YouTube didn't offer an exact date. "We decided to create an offering that would give them all of these can't miss live moments," said YouTube exec Robert Kinsel of YouTube TV's offering. He explained that YouTube has partnered with all of the broadcast networks, in order to offer "comprehensive national coverage with ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox all included." In addition, the service is getting USA, FX, FreeForm, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, and Fox Business. ShowTime is available for an additional fee. Missing, however, is HBO. For sports fans, the service includes national coverage from ESPN, FoxSports, and NBC SportsNet. Also offered are regional sports networks from Fox and Comcast, SEC Network, Big Ten and ESPNU. Fox Soccer Plus is available as an add-on. In addition, YouTube TV includes YouTube Red's 28 original series. Some other features of the service include a DVR that will never run out of space and that's cable of simultaneous recordings, a visual TV guide, search feature, and voice support integration via Google Home.
...for something that was 100% twenty years ago.
So if you want to pay for cable TV, but would rather pay Google and get it online? Possibly over a cable modem? Woo?
I guess I don't get it.
Isn't cable-cutting going in the opposite direction? I mean, this has got to be a real kick in the balls to the telecoms. Competition from Google is going to be expensive. It cost them a lot to starve Google out of the ISP business. But isn't the trend of customers going AWAY from buying this sort of thing?
Is $35 cheaper than cable TV?
...including the DVR feature and live local network channels in certain markets, but VUE has a few more channels, like AMC and Discovery ( https://www.playstation.com/en... ). Stupidly, Sony linked the VUE service to the Playstation, which doesn't help people take it seriously and one had to have a Playstation to sign up until Sony very recently added VUE to newer Sony smart TVs. Google/You Tube aren't going to wall off their service the way Sony did.
If it has commercials, I wouldn't watch it even if it were free.
Any chance I could get, say, two of those channels for $5 a month?
There's internet-based cable packages already out there, SlingTV/PlayStation Vue are the big obvious ones, but it's not unlikely to be more crowded going forward either. They have the same granular pricing scheme, and I don't care for them either..
The big thing for me is that when I was paying for cable, I'd only really have a couple of 'veg out' channels I ever used, and would really prefer to watch entire series for the serialized content, rather then live, so got nothing out of having those channels available. Add those few remnants of what's mildly interesting in cable, and you'll secure a (lower value) longterm customer.
I won't be willing to pay $35 monthly for what I'm missing now though. I just don't get enough enjoyment out of that, dollar for dollar, than I'd get out of most anything else.
Ryan Fenton
the service is getting USA, FX, FreeForm, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, and Fox Business. [...] the service includes national coverage from ESPN, FoxSports, and NBC SportsNet. Also offered are regional sports networks from Fox and Comcast, SEC Network, Big Ten and ESPNU
Sure glad I have an antenna on the roof and TiVo in my living room and can get all that for 100% free.
First, none of the channels mentioned in this quotation of the summary are available through a rooftop antenna. They are exclusive to multichannel subscription television. Second, a TiVo DVR will not function without a TiVo subscription.
Cable channels, not the locals, particularly sports channels are what drive up the price. Any cable package with all the cable channels listed above will cost a lot more than $35/mo. Sports is what keeps me 'corded' atm.
I haven't read the details, but the key for me would be how many viewers does it allow at one time? If it only allows 1 viewer than its not worth it. If it allows 3 it would suit my family needs and I could save a lot of money.