The YouTube TV Thread

Noticed today the guide will go far into the future. I think it use to be 7 hours but now it will go at least 3 days. I got tired and stopped there
This is on Nvidia Shield. Haven’t tried any other devices.

Update. The guide extension seems to only apply to Nvidia shield pro but not the tv version. Roku and Amazon fire tv do not have this new guide yet.
 
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$20/mo is ridiculous for such a small handful of 4K content available. I personally don't need 4+ streams in my house. Except for a large family on an unlimited data plan, who does? YTTV is actually making it harder to share outside the home (30-day check-in instead of 90), so don't think the unlimited streams add-on will more than pay for itself by splitting the costs with family and friends outside of your area/household. So that leaves offline viewing. Is that really worth $20/mo? You can usually buy one complete season of your favorite TV show each month to watch offline for that price.
 
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Youtube TV (and others) lost another channel. Newsy left as of 6/30/21.

 
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$20/mo is ridiculous for such a small handful of 4K content available. I personally don't need 4+ streams in my house. Except for a large family on an unlimited data plan, who does? YTTV is actually making it harder to share outside the home (30-day check-in instead of 90), so don't think the unlimited streams add-on will more than pay for itself by splitting the costs with family and friends outside of your area/household. So that leaves offline viewing. Is that really worth $20/mo? You can usually buy one complete season of your favorite TV show each month to watch offline for that price.
Yeah, I agree. But note that they're offering this feature upgrade package for just an extra $10/mo for the first year. My guess is that the full $20 delta never arrives. Given the very thin profit margins YTTV must be generating, I can understand a need to keep increasing their ARPU but I just don't see many takers for this upgrade at an additional $20/mo. So maybe they'll instead increase the price of the base package by $5-10 and offset the upgrade price by the same amount, so that it still results in a total price of $85/mo.

Or maybe they'll make the upgrade more desirable by taking the unlimited cloud DVR feature from the base package and putting it in there. I could see them adding a missing channel or two (e.g. Hallmark) while holding the base price at $65/mo. but only include a limited cloud DVR (e.g. 25 hrs./3 months). To get the unlimited cloud DVR with long-term storage, you would have to take the $20 upgrade that also scores 4K, unlimited in-home streams, and downloadable content. A lot more folks would pay $20 for that.
 
total price of $85/mo.

I hope not. There are less convenient ways to get what YTTV provides cheaper. At $65, it’s borderline worth it with the T-Mobile $10 credit. If they raise the price to $80+ for a very limited amount of 4K and more channels I don’t watch, it will be time to further investigate those options.

Most people are YTTV customers because of price. The price has increased 50% over the past year or two. If I wanted to pay $85, I’d go to cable, my telco, or something else that I could bundle an equivalent TV package with internet for less.

Enough is enough.


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Checked again this morning and guide data goes out to 10 days.
 
I hope not. There are less convenient ways to get what YTTV provides cheaper. At $65, it’s borderline worth it with the T-Mobile $10 credit. If they raise the price to $80+ for a very limited amount of 4K and more channels I don’t watch, it will be time to further investigate those options.

Most people are YTTV customers because of price. The price has increased 50% over the past year or two. If I wanted to pay $85, I’d go to cable, my telco, or something else that I could bundle an equivalent TV package with internet for less.

Enough is enough.
I wasn't suggesting a base price of $85, but that maybe we see the base price rise from the current $65 to somewhere in the $70-75 range. And if you add the optional 4K upgrade, that would increase the total to $85.

When YTTV launched, it had a lot fewer channels than it has now and analysts widely believed it was operating at a loss. So price increases were inevitable. But I'd say YTTV is still cheaper than the most similar packages from traditional providers. Here's the incremental cost around here, based on regular non-promo, contract-free pricing, to add Comcast's "Extra" TV package to their standalone broadband service:

Extra channel package (includes 20 hrs cloud DVR): $70
ongoing discount for bundling w/ broadband: -$20
Broadcast & regional sports fees: $25
Cloud DVR (150 hrs, 1-year retention): $10
Total = $85

So that's still $20/mo more than YTTV's current $65 price. But then Comcast's Extra is a larger package that includes RSNs as well as other popular channels missing from YTTV like the Hallmark channels, History, A&E, Lifetime, etc. OTOH, YTTV has a better, unlimited DVR and Comcast TV isn't fully "watch anywhere" outside of home the way YTTV is. I'd say the YTTV app is also nicer to use than the Xfinity Stream app for Roku, Fire TV, etc. If you want the best experience with Comcast TV, you'll need to pay $7.50 per month for each X1 box you rent. But that does include access to 4K HDR content (like the Tokyo Olympics) at no additional cost if you get a 4K-capable X1 box. (So far, they don't offer 4K via the Xfinity Stream app, only on their own X1 boxes.)

Because of the initial low cost of streaming cable TV services, I think a lot of "cord-cutters" thought it was somehow inherently cheaper for operators to sell cable packages that way. It's not. And now those streaming services have hiked their prices to cover costs (while channel owners have forced more of their channels to be carried). If you really want to pay less, you have to be willing to give up a lot of channels and go with a skinny bundle without locals, like Sling's Orange or Blue packages ($35 each) or Philo ($25).
 
Total = $85

I’m on Cincinnati Bell fiber, currently paying $90 for 1GB and landline. If I drop to 500 MB and upgrade TV package to one that meets my needs, I’d pay $95 for first year, $20 more per year after that.

Their box suckage and wife grief from swapping is worth the difference. Add family sharing, and it’s worth it. (I got a call when I canceled the service for the time it took to enroll with the $10 T-mobile credit).

Of course, DVR and other stuff aren’t really different enough to meaningfully matter.


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I think I started Sony Vue at $39.99 until they went belly up. Then switched to YTTV at $49 and in 2 short years they could be a high as $85....no savings anymore, will be time to shop again.
Once HBO and Showtime became available as standalone streaming services, I dumped satellite, put up an antenna for locals paired with an OTA DVR, and began subscribing to on-demand streamers like HBO Now, Showtime, Netflix, Hulu, etc. That works if you're not a big sports fan, like me. Honestly, sports is the main reason to pay for a cable channel package any more. Nearly everything else can be found on lower-cost (or free) apps. And as far as scripted TV, movies and docs, the selection is much better IMO on streaming services than on cable channels. I'm getting into Apple TV+ now. Lots of stuff to check out for only $5/mo, and all of it in 4K Dolby Vision to boot.
 
Yeah, sports is the driving reason to have cable/sat/live streaming, scripted shows are all over the place with streaming, some w/ads, some not. It seems that many content producers are finding it more profitable to produce for the on demand streaming services rather than the channels.
 
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