'YouTube TV' Streaming Service Launches in Five U.S. Cities

[avanpelt]

DIRECTV Now is useless. Every single show I watch is not available on-demand. The authentication apps are slim. Streaming is glitchy not to mention subpar quality compared to satellite.

Clearly, as your post indicates, DIRECTV Now is not a good solution for everyone, but it works great for my family. I'll take the $960 per year savings we have with DIRECTV Now over what we were paying for traditional DIRECTV and do something else with that money.

All the channels we watch regularly are in crystal clear 1080p. I know -- I tested it side-by-side with the traditional DIRECTV service before I cancelled the traditional DIRECTV service and there was zero difference in picture quality as far as I could tell. I'll grant you that the channels are a little less clear for about two seconds when you first tune to a channel (almost like 480p quality). I assume it's analyzing the connection throughput during those few seconds. Once that's done, the picture quality is most definitely 1080p on most channels. The only exceptions I've found so far are the C-SPAN channels. Their picture quality is abysmal -- and the image is shrunken down to a tiny square on the TV. It's laughable. Thankfully, I don't watch C-SPAN more than a few times a year for a few minutes at a time. I can live with it.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

How much data do you typically use in a month? This could quickly get outrageously expensive. A hotspot device from AT&T uses the same data-pricing as data from an AT&T smartphone.

We stream ~20 hours worth of Netflix per month. Other than that, we hardly touched wifi prior to getting DirectTV Now. Unless I'm mistaken, DirectTV Now doesn't count towards data on AT&T's network. I'll probably bump up our plan from 6 GB a month to unlimited - the extra 16 GB should handle our Netflix viewing, I think.

 

[avanpelt]

Unless I'm mistaken, DirectTV Now doesn't count towards data on AT&T's network.

You're not mistaken. Watch as much DIRECTV Now as you want on AT&T's network.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Yeah basically exactly what you said - what I would love is TV in Netflix form. Every show you could ever want to watch available on a platform, and then you pick what you want access to and pay for that. No commercials, no paying for crap you don't watch.

The current problem with iTunes is that there isn't an option for subscription. If I wanted to watch S7 of The Walking Dead, for example, I would have to pay over $40 just to watch that season. That's 4 months' worth of Netflix where I can watch entire series of multiple shows. But, I suppose that's the price you pay for wanting it right away and not waiting for it to come to Netflix...

And this is why traditional TV is still so valuable to networks and content creators... money.

Think of the advertising money made from airing The Walking Dead each week on AMC with commercials. Each viewer is probably worth a dollar per episode.

Now think of the money they'd get from someone's $10 Netflix fee... fractions of a penny per viewer per episode.

Quite a difference, huh.

iTunes is the highest price option... since you're basically replacing the money they'd make with ads... and then some! But most people don't take that option... they'll stick to weekly airings.

I agree with you... I'd love a subscription service where I can watch every show ever made.

But as long as traditional ad-supported TV is still a thing... we won't get those new shows on-demand until they've made all the money with ads first.

 

[Hennesie2000]

Really? They raise our bill and increase our resolve every time we call.

We began a week long trial of DirectTV Now yesterday. So far, we're pretty happy and will almost certainly be dropping Comcast as our cable provider. I'm considering the possibility of getting a Home Hotspot from AT&T for just $20/month and ditching Comcast entirely.

I signed up for an prepaid 3 months for 2 DirecTV Now accounts for the free Apple TV's. I will likely keep one of those accounts at the end of the 3 months. Since I am an AT&T Unlimited Plus user I also get a $25/month discount on the DirecTV Now subscription which drops it to $25 + $5 for HBO. The price is hard to beat and so far the service has surprised me. DirecTV Now also says only 2 streams but I have been able to do 3 streams on a single account with no issues. Trying to add a fourth stream causes it to say I have too many streams.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

I don't like that I can't stream live local channels because I guess I'm in an area where they don't allow it

Your local channels are probably not networked owned and as such Google will have to negotiate with each little mom and pop local channel across the country. That could take years and is an issue that every single streaming provider is faced with.

Why is it only available in 5 cities? That seems pretty useless.

Because they made the choice to roll out an experience where people had their local channels. that's easy to do with networked owned stations, much harder to do with franchised affiliates where each has to be negotiated separately. That will take years.

Basically all streaming services have two options at this point:

1. Only offer up both "cable" and network TV in selected markets so things look more complete or
2. Offer up their service to everyone but have no limited or no locals in a lot of markets.

I guess, but that's something that makes more sense, and I think even now they're still updating it. It takes a massive amount of time to compile that much information, and since the very nature of it is location based (maps data), it makes complete sense.

It makes complete sense here too. Streaming companies have to go to each little non-network owned station and negotiate the rights to their broadcast. Like the map data you mentioned, this will take a massive amount of time and the very nature of it is also location based.

Yes. Horrible experience. Tie up a device just to stream video while possibly draining the battery? No thanks. AirPlay tends to not be rock solid either. When I stream Prime Video off my iPhone or iPad, it drops the stream frequently enough to be annoying.

A Chromecast doesn't have those issues though. It doesn't tie up your device, not drain battery. Your phone is merely the controller while the Chromecast streams directly from the internet. And since Google is apparently giving them away as part of the YouTube TV deal, even people who don't currently own a Chromecast have a chance to use one.

 

[tennisproha]

All the channels we watch regularly are in crystal clear 1080p. I know -- I tested it side-by-side with the traditional DIRECTV service before I cancelled the traditional DIRECTV service and there was zero difference in picture quality as far as I could tell. I'll grant you that the channels are a little less clear for about two seconds when you first tune to a channel (almost like 480p quality). I assume it's analyzing the connection throughput during those few seconds. Once that's done, the picture quality is most definitely 1080p on most channels. The only exceptions I've found so far are the C-SPAN channels. Their picture quality is abysmal -- and the image is shrunken down to a tiny square on the TV. It's laughable. Thankfully, I don't watch C-SPAN more than a few times a year for a few minutes at a time. I can live with it.

No network currently broadcasts or streams in 1080p. Most of the channels you get will be in 720p.

 

[JohnWalker]

So if I live in one of the 5 cities (NYC) does that mean I can only stream while here? What if I travel to another city not on the list, will it know my location and not work?

I signed up in los angeles and I'm using it in san diego broadcast channels don't work but everything else does.

 

[August West]

This is the streaming service I've been wishing would come along for years. I hoping Google rolls this out to Phoenix in the not too distant future. As soon as they do I'm dumping cable. With its sports lineup, current plus soon to be added channel lineup and unlimited DVR service it will work well for me. Couple this with Netflix and I'm good. Sure, there are a few missing channels but nothing I can't live without for about 1/3 of the price of cable.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Ive had no issued with DTV in the past month. $35 for a ton of channels + HBO is great.

I've never used "demand" even when I had U-Verse or Dish so not really that important to me.

But...waiting on Hulu. I use Hulu every day and hope their live TV Service is better (maybe CW)

 

[dragje]

18 million residents vs 318 million residents. Things work a bit differently in different countries.

More costumers should even make the prize lower..... $35 is quite expensive...

 

[Apple_Robert]

In my opinion, that is a very weak offering for what is going to be $40.00 a month. I just canceled my DirectTV Now (runs out mid April) as the channels were buffering a lot or freezing, even though I have 1GB fiber internet and no other use buffering was happening outside of Directv Now. Its a shame as I liked the $5 a month HBO feed.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

In my opinion, that is a very weak offering for what is going to be $40.00 a month. I just canceled my DirectTV Now (runs out mid April) as the channels were buffering a lot or freezing, even though I have 1GB fiber internet and no other use buffering was happening outside of Directv Now. Its a shame as I liked the $5 a month HBO feed.

I'm not following, are you having buffering and freezing issues with YouTube TV or DirectTV Now?

 

[Apple_Robert]

I'm not following, are you having buffering and freezing issues with YouTube TV or DirectTV Now?

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