Is YouTube TV worth your money anymore?
Sports fans might love it, but who else?
Cord-cutting benefits plenty of households financially, but the common follow-up question is which service you'll use to supplement your live television fix.
As one of the live TV streaming world's biggest players, YouTube TV still offers a lot to its active subscribers, including unlimited DVR storage and the 4K Plus add-on; however, the latter costs an extra $10/month and is only available for select content, including sports, live events and shows from YouTube TV's on-demand library. In contrast, a limited number of TV streamers even offer 4K programming, so keep that in mind.
And while the Disney blackout that affected ABC and ESPN ended last November, the streaming service is losing a trio of channels as of September 30, and any recordings from them will be washed away.
Still, neither benefit changes the fact that $82.99/month is a fair chunk of change, and YouTube TV may not be worth the hefty cost for every active user, but that depends on what you watch.
Who could still use YouTube TV?
Seeing as the football season recently kicked off, it might be worth starting a subscription if you're a die-hard fan, as new YouTube TV users can get NFL Sunday Ticket for $30/month; on the other hand, this promotional price is not available for current YouTube TV subscribers, who have to pay the standard $47.25/month
As of the start of September, ESPN Unlimited became fully available to main YouTube TV and Sports Plan subscribers. That's a major incentive for fans to stick around, with college football and out-of-market NHL games being two big draws. This is some serious progression from last October, when contract negotiations resulted in a 15-day blackout period on all Disney-owned channels.
And if we're talking sports, a major gripe I've had is the lack of Spectrum SportsNet, which forces me, a long-time Lakers fan, to subscribe to Spectrum SportsNet's streaming service. Meanwhile, it's readily streamable with DirecTV.
Later this month, YouTube TV will no longer offer Tastemade, Court TV, or The Young Turks, removing any recordings members have saved from those channels. While you can still stream each of these free on other services, like Pluto TV, The Roku Channel or Samsung TV Plus, it's a pitfall for YouTube TV and a clear sign that free ad-supported TV (FAST) still comes in handy.
Still, with over 100 channels to choose from, the main $82.99/month plan is worth it if you can't live without cable staples like Hallmark and Disney Channel. That said, the Sports + Entertainment package is surely worth considering if you want to save $11 a month and still stream over 70 channels, which I'm on the verge of doing.
What are the best alternatives?
Since raising its base subscription cost from $72.99/month to $82.99/month earlier this year, YouTube TV is still cheaper than most cable or satellite setups, but over $20 more than the priciest Sling plan, which features over 50 channels.
Meanwhile, the ad-supported Hulu + Live TV package costs $99/month and includes Disney+ and ESPN Select on top of Hulu and live TV, making it a good choice for Disney and sports lovers alike. Like YouTube TV, Hulu offers unlimited DVR storage that keeps your content for up to nine months.
A step up from that could be DirecTV's streaming service, which offers Disney+ and Hulu to all Genre Pack subscribers and ESPN Unlimited to its larger Package subscribers, essentially bringing together the best of both YouTube TV and Hulu. Pricing starts at $20.99/month for the former and $90/month for the latter.