YouTube TV will be on its way to 10 new cities including Charlotte when the service slowly spreads across the country. YouTube TV has not had a large national roll out like some of its competitors because the service will not launch in a city until it has agreements with all of the local network affiliates in place. This puts the service in a difficult position because it means that Google has to negotiate multiple deals across the entire country in order grow its reach and maintain them going forward.Other cities that will be getting the YouTube TV service include Orlando, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale.
The service is part of the trend towards what are called “Skinny Bundles”. Skinny bundle is a term that is used to describe services that offer smaller groups of cable channels for lower prices than the cost of a traditional package. YouTube TV has emphasized sports by offering multiple ESPN and Fox Sports channels along with 24-hour news channels Fox News and MSNBC. All of its channels are built around the few agreements it has in place with the major providers allowing associated channels like FX, CNBC and others to be available for $35.00. See more about the offering here
How Can You Watch YouTube TV?
Right now YouTube TV is only available via Android devices, IOS devices, and computers. Users with Chromecast enabled devices can take advantage of the service on the large screen by using their mobile devices to “Cast” the service to their TV’s. Chromecast enabled devices include the NVIDIA Sheild, Mi Box and Air TV as well as the $35.00 Chromecast dongle. Chromecast is also built into a number of televisions. Apple TV users with IOS devices can also watch YouTube TV on an Apple TV by using Apple’s AirPlay option. One other wrinkle would include using Android-powered set-top boxes to access the service.
Can It Replace My Cable Service?
It depends on what you like about cable. The selection is considerably smaller than what you would find on a cable package but it may give your family enough of what you enjoy to consider it. One of the draws of skinny bundles is the lack of contracts, which means that if you don’t think it is worth the money or the effort you can drop the service with no penalty. There are many popular channels missing from the service at the moment that may be deal breakers for some consumers. Best to check out the channel lineup before considering dropping your current package.
