Hello, I was looking at this yesterday because it is finally in my area. The problem for me is that it is missing channels I like. It does not have TNT, The Discovery channel and The History channel. Those are some of my favorite channels.
Regards, Greg Wocher > On Aug 17, 2017, at 8:08 PM, M. Taylor <[email protected]> wrote: > > CNET News - Thursday, August 17, 2017 at 10:00 AM > YouTube TV adds 14 cities, now available to half of US homes - CNET > Watch out cable TV, YouTube is coming to get you. And now it's after your > paying subscribers in Boston, Tampa, Seattle and 11 other cities. > YouTube TV, Google's live TV streaming service that costs $35 per month, is > available in 14 more US cities starting Thursday. Combined with the 15 > cities already served, half of the households in America can now subscribe > to YouTube TV. > The service also adds national news network Newsy and the Tennis Channel to > its slate of 50-odd live channels today, as well as Boston's NESN, home of > Red Sox baseball. Coming soon are My TV and CW networks in select markets. > (The CW network is a joint venture of CBS, the owner of CNET, and Warner > Bros.) > But Google's expanding venture into pay TV won't stop there. In "the coming > weeks" YouTube TV says it will add 17 more markets including Denver, > Cleveland and St. Louis, bringing its total to 46 markets and 64 percent of > US households. See below for a full list of the new cities. > Not to be confused with the free YouTube you know from countless how-to, > music and cat-related videos, YouTube TV is one of a growing number of > options aimed at cord cutters and "cord nevers" seeking an alternative to > traditional cable TV. > Like competitors DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV, PlayStation Vue and Sling > TV, it streams live and on-demand TV over the internet to TVs, phones and > computers, with no contracts. These services range in price from $20 to $40 > per month and offer some combination of national channels (ESPN, Bravo, FX, > MSNBC) as well as local (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC). > A locals-first strategy aimed at millennials > The biggest difference between those other four live TV streaming services > and YouTube TV is a focus on local channels. Like the others it has a solid > if not comprehensive array of national networks such as ESPN and FX, but > unlike its competitors, YouTube TV is not available nationwide. Unless you > live in one of those 29 (soon to be 46) markets, you can't subscribe to the > service. > If you're used to internet video being available everywhere, that can seem > like a pretty big problem. But for YouTube TV it's a strategy. I asked Kelly > Merryman, managing director of content partnerships at YouTube, about its > unique approach. > "We want to make sure we have at least three of the four broadcasters live > on a local basis, getting those affiliate deals done so we could provide > great local coverage. We're really focused on the top 50 DMAs and lighting > those up," she says, referring to Direct Market Areas, as measured by > Nielsen. > > A focus on live local TV channels is YouTube TV's biggest differentiator. > Sarah Tew/CNET > In other words, YouTube TV will only launch in cities where it can offer > three or four local broadcasters -- ABC, CBS, Fox and/or NBC. Nineteen of > its 29 markets have all four, with the other 10 missing just one. People in > Dallas can't get their local ABC station on YouTube TV, for example, and > Seattle subscribers miss out on Fox (bummer, Seahawks fans). Check out my > updated local channel chart for details. > There's a big difference between local and national channels. Nationwide > channels like AMC, TNT and The Disney Channel offer one or two national > feeds (a second one is sometimes time-shifted for west coast viewing), but > local stations typically air news and other programming endemic to the area, > in addition to programs from the big four networks. Because most local > stations, aka network affiliates, are owned by companies other than one of > the big four networks in question, they usually require separate contracts > with providers such as streaming services, cable systems and satellite > networks. > YouTube TV's locals-first approach means users won't have to worry about > missing one of those networks. Or at least, more than one of them. > "When we first launched this service we spent a lot of time with our users > trying to understand what they were seeking," says Merryman. "What we heard > is that they were seeking a service that leaned into both local and live. We > wanted to prove that that was what was missing, and what was necessary to > reach this millennial audience." > And Merryman says it's working so far. The majority of YouTube TV > subscribers are millennials, and the majority of content subscribers watch > on the service is live, as opposed to on-demand or recorded on the cloud > DVR, she says. YouTube declined to provide specific numbers, however, and > also wouldn't say how many subscribers it had or how many hours per day > people watched. > The battle to stream the big four networks > All five live TV streaming services continue to add local channels, and > signing them up has become an arms race. According to my running tally, with > this expansion, YouTube now has more total local channels (105) than DirecTV > Now, although it still trails Hulu and PlayStation Vue. Its impending > 17-city expansion would vault it into first place if Hulu and Vue stand > still, but that's not happening. > Hulu, the last of the five to launch, is now in the lead with 200 local > channels as of today, 119 of which are CBS stations. PS Vue's latest local > channel expansion of 11 ABC and four NBC local stations brings its total to > 186 by my count. DirecTV Now recently announced the impending addition of 14 > CBS stations, filling the biggest hole in its lineup, and plans to have 170 > by this fall. Even laggard Sling TV recently added a local channel, NBC in > Boston. > YouTube TV's local channel advantage over the others shows up best in cities > such as Baltimore, Minneapolis and San Antonio, where it's the only one to > offer all four locals. In many such places its competitors have two or > three, at best. > Signing up Sinclair > One of the biggest reasons YouTube TV is able to expand local coverage is a > new partnership with Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation's largest owner of > local broadcast stations, which was also announced Thursday. > "We believe that our viewers want the ability to access content on any > screen and having this relationship with YouTube will provide value to not > only our viewers, but our advertising relationships as well," said Barry > Faber, Sinclair's executive vice president for distribution and network > relations in a statement. "We appreciate that Google, the owner of YouTube > TV, recognized the importance of carrying all of the local broadcast > affiliates to their effort to attract subscribers to this new service." > The agreement says that all of Sinclair's ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates > will appear on YouTube TV as that service launches in a market. Sinclair > also owns the Tennis Channel, and its My TV and CW affiliates will appear on > YouTube TV soon, along with Comet TV. > Sinclair has also made deals with other streaming providers, but not to the > same extent as YouTube TV. A Sinclair representative told CNET that > currently Fox and CBS affiliates are available on PlayStation Vue, and ABC > stations are available on DirecTV Now, but no Sinclair stations are > available on either Hulu or Sling TV. > Indeed, Sinclair is set to get even bigger: It owns more than 170 local > channels and is currently buying Tribune Media, which owns 39 more. But that > increasingly large national footprint is not without controversy. HBO's John > Oliver dedicated the bulk of his July 2 episode to detailing the company's > drive to make its local newscasts more friendly to conservative causes, > while a more recent New York Times report documented what it called the > company's "increasingly tight relationship with the FCC" -- the arm of the > Trump administration responsible for approving the Tribune deal. > Sinclair and YouTube declined to comment about those reports for this > article. > > Right now you have to use a phone and a device like a Chromecast to watch on > an actual TV. That's changing soon. > Sarah Tew/CNET > What's next for YouTube? Big-screen apps > YouTube TV's accent on local TV could pay off, but according to Merryman its > next focus after expanding to more cities will be on improving how people > actually use the service. > "What we're hearing is that it's a great UI, that they love the variety of > programming, but they really are seeking a better living room experience," > she said. "So that has been an area that we've really focused on." > Right now YouTube TV is very phone-centric. It has Android and iOS apps for > phones and tablets, and can also stream to computers, but the only way to > watch on an actual big-screen TV is with a Google Chromecast or AirPlay via > an Apple TV, both of which require you to use your phone as the remote > control. By comparison, all of YouTube TV's competitors have real, > big-screen apps on TV-connected platforms and devices like game consoles, > Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Android TV. > When I asked about those platforms Merryman didn't confirm any specifics, > beyond saying "this fall we'll be rolling out a number of different living > room solutions." Stay tuned. > YouTube TV's aggressive expansion provides yet another alternative for > millions more Americans who want to watch their shows but don't want to > subscribe to cable. With its accent on local channels and other cool > features like an unlimited cloud DVR, it's an increasingly strong player in > the next generation of television. > The 14 new markets that get YouTube TV today: > . Baltimore > . Boston > . Cincinnati > . Columbus, Ohio > . Jacksonville-Brunswick > . Las Vegas > . Louisville > . Memphis > . Nashville > . Pittsburgh > . San Antonio > . Seattle-Tacoma > . Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota > . West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce > The 17 additional markets available in "the coming weeks": > . Austin > . Birmingham > . Cleveland-Akron > . Denver > . Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek > . Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem > . Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York > . Hartford-New Haven > . Indianapolis > . Kansas City > . Milwaukee > . Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News > . Oklahoma City > . Raleigh-Durham > . Salt Lake City > . San Diego > . St. Louis > Channel lineups compared for the top 5 streaming TV services: Is your > favorite channel on Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Now or PlayStation > Vue? > > Original Article at: > https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-tv-adds-14-cities-now-available-to-half-of > -us-homes/#ftag=CAD590a51e > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. 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