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Google launches 'YouTube TV' streaming service for $35 a month

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Google’s video site is taking the wraps off YouTube TV, its new $35-a-month TV service that will package a bundle of channels from the broadcast networks and some cable networks. 

YouTube says the service, which will sit in a new, standalone app, will launch later this spring. It’s separate from YouTube Red, the ad-free subscription service the company launched last year, which hasn’t had much success.

YouTube TV is supposed to be “mobile first” — that is, YouTube expects that subscribers will spend most of their time watching on phones, though they’ll also be able to watch on devices like laptops and traditional TVs, via Google’s Chromecast devices. 

Like other new digital TV services, YouTube TV won’t offer every network that cable TV services provide; instead it will feature a “skinny bundle,” composed of the four broadcast networks — Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC — along with some of the cable channels related to the broadcasters. Which means you’ll also get networks like Fox News, ESPN and Bravo; YouTube execs says the base package will include about three dozen channels.

One thing that distinguishes YouTube TV from its competitors is that while it will feature cable networks owned by companies that also own broadcast networks — so it will offer both ESPN and ABC, both owned by Disney — it doesn’t feature any networks owned by programmers that operate exclusively on pay TV, like Viacom, AMC or Time Warner.

YouTube isn’t ruling out working with those programmers down the line. For instance, it would like to find a way to work with Time Warner, so that it could offer HBO, but Time Warner execs say that won’t happen until YouTube cuts a deal with its Turner networks like CNN. But it is also suggesting that YouTube watchers will be fine without most cable channels, since YouTube already has so much free stuff.

What YouTube is really pushing, though, is the notion that while it may have the same programming as its competitors, it will have a better service. YouTube product chief Neal Mohan says the company has been working on YouTube TV for two years; he promises that you’ll see the results when you actually get to play with it.

YouTube Now’s pricing will make it hard/impossible for YouTube to turn a profit, given the carriage fees it has to shell out for the four big networks, but YouTube doesn’t seem concerned about that: Right now it wants to work on turning some of its billion-plus users into paying subscribers.

 

Recode

 

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I think the sports channels are the only thing that makes this unique. My brother bitches all the time about how there's not a reliable sports streaming service that's not also exorbitantly priced. This is definitely overpriced for what it is, but I understand why they did it; YouTube is only barely breaking even on costs.

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10 minutes ago, intoyoueveryday said:

It's only available in the U.S. 

No surprise. 

Other countries probably won't allow the competition

 

Pretty sure it'd be illegal due to licensing restrictions 

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5 hours ago, intoyoueveryday said:

We'll see once they announce a full channel list. 

A little research goes a long way. Here's the list and they are still negotiating with HBO and more channels. This isn't the final list.

 

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Pretty sure it'd be illegal due to licensing restrictions 

The backlash!

I think the sports channels are the only thing that makes this unique. My brother bitches all the time about how there's not a reliable sports streaming service that's not also exorbitantly priced. Th


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