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Another price hike for YouTubeTV

Zorachus

Zorachus

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Messages
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https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/9285852

I "cut the cord" a few years ago, and we went with YouTube TV, back then it was $49/month, and it kept going up bit by bit, now starting in January, the basic sub for YouTubeTV will be $83/month. We plan to cancel.

Only reason we used it was for local Chicago TV channels, news, and Sports like NFL and College Football. But at this new price it's just not worth it, plus we don't even watch it much, outside of some football games on Sundays.

Any good alternatives?
 
Zorachus said:
https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/9285852

I "cut the cord" a few years ago, and we went with YouTube TV, back then it was $49/month, and it kept going up bit by bit, now starting in January, the basic sub for YouTubeTV will be $83/month. We plan to cancel.

Only reason we used it was for local Chicago TV channels, news, and Sports like NFL and College Football. But at this new price it's just not worth it, plus we don't even watch it much, outside of some football games on Sundays.

Any good alternatives?
Click to expand...
Hulu live tv is about the same price but comes with Hulu streaming and Disney+ /shrugs
 
Zorachus said:
https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/9285852

I "cut the cord" a few years ago, and we went with YouTube TV, back then it was $49/month, and it kept going up bit by bit, now starting in January, the basic sub for YouTubeTV will be $83/month. We plan to cancel.

Only reason we used it was for local Chicago TV channels, news, and Sports like NFL and College Football. But at this new price it's just not worth it, plus we don't even watch it much, outside of some football games on Sundays.

Any good alternatives?
Click to expand...

Antenna TV for local channels.
 
The only good alternative is an antenna w/ a HDHomeRun + some form of Hulu bundle; for me it's the Hulu/Disney/Max bundle that's only $22/mo after a monthly American Express Hulu credit.
 
Google pricing is high.

I would love to pay for ad-free youtube instead of running adblockers. But they bundle it with some garbage that I don't want (sounds familiar to cable?) and that prices it out of contention.
 
Zorachus said:
https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/9285852

I "cut the cord" a few years ago, and we went with YouTube TV, back then it was $49/month, and it kept going up bit by bit, now starting in January, the basic sub for YouTubeTV will be $83/month. We plan to cancel.

Only reason we used it was for local Chicago TV channels, news, and Sports like NFL and College Football. But at this new price it's just not worth it, plus we don't even watch it much, outside of some football games on Sundays.

Any good alternatives?
Click to expand...
I was looking into streaming TV services and YouTube TV came up often because it was cheap. Ultimately I went with the free options. If you want local TV then I'd suggest HDHomeRun. This integrates very nicely into Jellyfin but there's no TV Guide unless you put in a bit of extra work. You can use zap2xml which I run daily through a script that gets TV Guide data from TitanTV, which is free. As for paid channels there's always r/m3u8. Old fashion video streaming is still here, and people share this stuff constantly. This also integrates into Jellyfin nicely, but it's hard to get a working TV Guide. That's because there tends to be thousands of channels, and it doesn't pick up well with EPG data. My last bit of advice is to Google LiveNetTV, which is all the info on that I will give you.
 
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I had forgotten Youtube TV even existed.

What do you even get with it?

With this price hike, they are in traditional cable pricing territory, so my question becomes, is it even worth cable cutting anymore if this is your alternative?
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I had forgotten Youtube TV even existed.

What do you even get with it?

With this price hike, they are in traditional cable pricing territory, so my question becomes, is it even worth cable cutting anymore if this is your alternative?
Click to expand...
It's a very good service. We just recently migrated to it (lol on us) - but yeah, now after this hike we are reconsidering.

We used Xfinity's app and it was a good savings to move to YouTubeTV and our local fiber ISP. After 4K upgrade (damn new TV) and all the other BS I am sure our YouTubeTV will be $120+ monthly (base + MAX + 4K Plus upgrade)...just getting ridiculous. We need Bravo and WeTV for trash television and maybe a few others. The challenge for me is convincing the wife. I cut the cord YEARS ago only to come back because the apps just add up to nearly the same price. Now we cut again and it is starting all over.

It may be time to (at minimum) cancel my YouTube Premium sub.
 
It's crazy that Cable TV now might be cheaper than YouTube TV. It was not supposed to be this way.

I like YouTube TV, it's good, but I don't love it or freaking absolutely must have. We've had it 2+ years now just gotten used to it and comfortable. But honestly how much do I truly use it and watch compared to viewing on Netflix, or Prime, or Paramount+ or YouTube Premium? I probably watch YouTube TV the least. Mostly for Da Bears 🐻 football games and Sunday Night football.
 
Zorachus said:
It's crazy that Cable TV now might be cheaper than YouTube TV. It was not supposed to be this way.

I like YouTube TV, it's good, but I don't love it or freaking absolutely must have. We've had it 2+ years now just gotten used to it and comfortable. But honestly how much do I truly use it and watch compared to viewing on Netflix, or Prime, or Paramount+ or YouTube Premium? I probably watch YouTube TV the least. Mostly for Da Bears 🐻 football games and Sunday Night football.
Click to expand...

The channels find a way to get their money one way or another.

You didn't think they were actually going to be happy giving away their content for free, did you?

As long as content creators/owners create/own content people want, they hold all the power, and they are not voluntarily going to give up that power. Like every other business entity out there in every industry, they are in the money making business, and they are going to do anything and everything they can to keep making that money as long as it is within the law (and sometimes outside the law too)
 
YTTV used to market themselves as the anti-cable alternative...now it's basically the same price or more...I knew this was going to happen which is why I never cut the cord or cancelled my Verizon FiOS cable subscription...will cable now market themselves as the anti-streaming service?
 
polonyc2 said:
YTTV used to market themselves as the anti-cable alternative...now it's basically the same price or more...I knew this was going to happen which is why I never cut the cord or cancelled my Verizon FiOS cable subscription...will cable now market themselves as the anti-streaming service?
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The broadcasters are not going to just charge Google less than any other cable channel. I wouldn't doubt if YouTube TV was subsidized when it launched.

I think the forced bundling of channels to cable networks is the biggest thing holding back TV right now.
 
I really wish I didn't like sports and my wife would stop watching total **** on tv... because I would very much like to just get rid of TV altogether.. I basically never watch TV except Football, Basketball and occasionally baseball.. but it just isn't worth the money...
 
I'm on the family plan and share it with 5 other family and friends, so it's honestly an extremely good deal. Unlike Netflix, which is resigned to one household, the other members just have to be in the same state. Sharing YouTube Red as well. Price hikes are complete garbage, but for now, it's still worth it.

I miss PlayStation Vue, though.
 
Even though My father in law pays for it and lets us use it at home, this sucks. I have a feeling he might ditch it. It's getting to the point I can get cable tv bundled with internet and have it come out cheaper, lol. I know after a year of having cable they'll increase the price every year, or more, but Youtube TV isn't cheap anymore.
 
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DukenukemX said:
I was looking into streaming TV services and YouTube TV came up often because it was cheap. Ultimately I went with the free options. If you want local TV then I'd suggest HDHomeRun. This integrates very nicely into Jellyfin but there's no TV Guide unless you put in a bit of extra work. You can use zap2xml which I run daily through a script that gets TV Guide data from TitanTV, which is free. As for paid channels there's always r/m3u8. Old fashion video streaming is still here, and people share this stuff constantly. This also integrates into Jellyfin nicely, but it's hard to get a working TV Guide. That's because there tends to be thousands of channels, and it doesn't pick up well with EPG data. My last bit of advice is to Google LiveNetTV, which is all the info on that I will give you.
Click to expand...
Another good option for HDHomeRun users is 'Channels': https://getchannels.com/for-hdhomerun/

It's a one time $25 fee for the standalone version, and gives free EPG updates for the guide info. I used it on AppleTV with my old HDHomeRun Primes (cable provider didn't have copy-once) and it was flawless, but it's also available for Android/FireTV as well. They do have a $8/mo subscription model if you want to do a DIY DVR.

If you have a lifetime PlexPass, the LiveTV + HDHomerun can also be done, but I felt Plex and LiveTV was clunky last time I tried it a couple years back.

As great as YoutubeTV is, this price hike will likely get me to cancel and go back to the above after getting an antenna setup in my attic. I also get 'free' cable through my HOA and can use that to login to apps for premium sports and channels. The only reason I had YouTubeTV was because of convenience and the great sports integration, and my 'free' cable requires a STB at each TV (no streaming options and they don't let me use my own router). The cost is just getting too much to justify the convenience.
 
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So funny to me how we have come full circle from expensive cable to a completely segmented market of streaming services that are actually more expensive than cable ever was if you want access to most decent content.
 
Tengis said:
So funny to me how we have come full circle from expensive cable to a completely segmented market of streaming services that are actually more expensive than cable ever was if you want access to most decent content.
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Zorachus said:
It's crazy that Cable TV now might be cheaper than YouTube TV. It was not supposed to be this way.

I like YouTube TV, it's good, but I don't love it or freaking absolutely must have. We've had it 2+ years now just gotten used to it and comfortable. But honestly how much do I truly use it and watch compared to viewing on Netflix, or Prime, or Paramount+ or YouTube Premium? I probably watch YouTube TV the least. Mostly for Da Bears 🐻 football games and Sunday Night football.
Click to expand...
Cable is still more expensive. Plus, you can actually use YouTube TV anywhere in the world, where Cable is locked to your home, usually to overpriced set top boxes that cost more per month than a single Amazon FireStick. I haven't watched TV in 15 years. I mostly set this up for family. If I wanna watch something then I just stream it.
 
DukenukemX said:
Cable is still more expensive. Plus, you can actually use YouTube TV anywhere in the world, where Cable is locked to your home, usually to overpriced set top boxes that cost more per month than a single Amazon FireStick. I haven't watched TV in 15 years. I mostly set this up for family. If I wanna watch something then I just stream it.
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It's a great feature - but it is funny how I almost NEVER use it. I guess because I'm an old dude I just do not even think of the possibility. Sometimes while I'm on the can at my house or something - but it doesn't even cross my mind outside of it and I travel for biz. Must be because I don't really watch sports.
 
We cut the cable from DirectTV years ago and went with Sling at $25 since we only watch a small bit of TV. It has gone up every year and is now double the price. Debating on cancelling.
 
I've seen lots of complaints for this price hike. Try cutting off live TV and just stream series and movies and see how you adjust? We don't have a need or time for live TV as my kids control the TV most of the day by watching Youtube crap on it.
 
If you cancel YouTubeTV and list cost as the reason - they offer you $72.99 for 6 months to stay. Took 20 seconds. Buys you some time...
 
That Simpsons image hits the nail on the head. Not only have the prices hiked up, but the streaming fragmentation has made it really expensive. Would not be surprised to see a lot of people just pirating because it's getting too ridiculous and too expensive to keep up with content.

I generally only watch anime. So I started with Crunchyroll. Fine. But then there's Funimation (which at some point they finally tried bundling in with Crunchyroll). Except now there's also Netflix animes. And then there are a couple of other ones with random titles on them. I gave up. It's still technically better than cable because you can watch on demand (ignoring that many services I think have auto recording anyway), but I'm not paying like 60+$ a month... just for anime. They need to figure this shit out.
 
sk3tch said:
If you cancel YouTubeTV and list cost as the reason - they offer you $72.99 for 6 months to stay. Took 20 seconds. Buys you some time...
Click to expand...
Cable companies do this too. I've had FIOS and Optimum quickly give me a discount when I decided to cancel service. The problem is the discounts are time limited and I end up arguing with someone on the phone. It's a waste of time to have to call back every 6 months to a year just to maintain a monthly price. If they don't bend to the knee then I switch to their competitor. It's far easier to just cancel these subscription based services and find free alternatives. Subscriptions always increase prices but free usually stays free.
 
YTTV cost $45/month when I switched to streaming. It's still the best streaming service, IMO, even with the annoying price hikes. I've got my parents and brother on my account so we split the bill into thirds. If I was the only user, I would've dumped it once the price topped $60/month.
 
I had it for a few months when it was at $35 a month. Loved it at that price, as soon as they started hiking the price I dropped it. There's now absolutely no reason not to go back to cable tv, especially if you mostly only watch sports. I call my local cable company with a half-hearted threat to cancel every 12 months to renew my annual new customer discount for $150 a month for 1 Gb down & Cable TV. All these streaming companies are now just as bad if not worse than cable companies. Instead of learning from their mistakes they've all followed in their footsteps.
 
TheMadHatterXxX said:
I had it for a few months when it was at $35 a month. Loved it at that price, as soon as they started hiking the price I dropped it. There's now absolutely no reason not to go back to cable tv, especially if you mostly only watch sports. I call my local cable company with a half-hearted threat to cancel every 12 months to renew my annual new customer discount for $150 a month for 1 Gb down & Cable TV. All these streaming companies are now just as bad if not worse than cable companies. Instead of learning from their mistakes they've all followed in their footsteps.
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This is why you got a small PC with large storage and start filling it with your favorite content. Put Plex or Jellyfin and get a dns like freedns. So instead of typing in your IP you just type in a web address and you're there. If you really want to get the ball rolling then get a VPN and torrent away your favorite stuff. You'll find Plex and Jellyfin on many smart TV's and if not then get a FireStick or something similar. No reason to pay for streaming unless you really don't know what you wanna watch.
 
DukenukemX said:
This is why you got a small PC with large storage and start filling it with your favorite content. Put Plex or Jellyfin and get a dns like freedns. So instead of typing in your IP you just type in a web address and you're there. If you really want to get the ball rolling then get a VPN and torrent away your favorite stuff. You'll find Plex and Jellyfin on many smart TV's and if not then get a FireStick or something similar. No reason to pay for streaming unless you really don't know what you wanna watch.
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Some of us don't want to pirate, and actually pay for what we use. Aka the majority of society.

I'm still on cable with my tivo, love the setup and have been using tivo units since around 2000.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Some of us don't want to pirate, and actually pay for what we use. Aka the majority of society.

I'm still on cable with my tivo, love the setup and have been using tivo units since around 2000.
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You can build a plex library with content you already own, which is what I'm starting to slowly do. I'm not okay with pirating either.



And wow ... TiVo ...

starwars-obi-wan.gif
 
DukenukemX said:
This is why you got a small PC with large storage and start filling it with your favorite content. Put Plex or Jellyfin and get a dns like freedns. So instead of typing in your IP you just type in a web address and you're there. If you really want to get the ball rolling then get a VPN and torrent away your favorite stuff. You'll find Plex and Jellyfin on many smart TV's and if not then get a FireStick or something similar. No reason to pay for streaming unless you really don't know what you wanna watch.
Click to expand...
The problem with that is if you're entertaining guests that doesn't really work. I like to have a football or basketball game on the tv while friends are over for drinks and playing pool. These streaming services that offer "live tv" are no longer significantly cheaper than cable, which makes them not really worst the cost.
 
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cpufrost said:
People still watch TV?
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I watch movies & sports. Not always but when I have a bit of time & want to wind down.

I am in India & have following subscriptions
  1. Dish (D2H) (package comes with complimentary SONY LIV)
  2. Amazon prime (normal shopping includes movies)
  3. Disney Hotstar
  4. Reliance Jio
  5. Two broadband connections (2 because I need a backup, if one fails)
  6. Mobile monthly subscription (thinking of converting this to pay as you go)
  7. One more mobile with pay as you go
  8. Two more mobile for wife — both pay as you go
 
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