Since the beginning of the streaming boom, more and more people have proclaimed that the death of cable is on the horizon. While cable viewership has steadily decreased over the years, traditional cable still persists. But, having access to cable no longer means paying for a traditional cable plan.
While there are many cable alternatives available, such asSling TVandHulu + Live TV,one of the standouts in the field isYouTube TV. Google’s cable alternative has a good mix of channels, features, and ease of use that make it an all around fantastic service. But if you already pay for a traditional cable plan, is it worth cutting the cord and switching to YouTube TV instead?
YouTube TV
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The dollars and cents of cable plans vs. YouTube TV
If money is important, there’s a clear winner.
When talking about cable plans, it’s almost inevitable that the price will be the most important factor. The average monthly cable cost range, a good point of reference, can be anywhere from $40-$160 monthly. This variance in price generally depends on features and channels included in a cable package. For a fully fleshed out package including a good amount of DVR space and an extensive channel list, it’s not uncommon to end up paying more than $100/month.
Cable TV plans don’t involve filling out payment info and then being ready to go. Rather, you have to schedule and pay for installation as well as equipment. With YouTube TV, starting to watch cable is as easy as filling in your payment details.
On the other hand, YouTube TV is a consistent $72.99/month. While this is significantly more than the lower end of traditional cable packages, you have to bear in mind that a YouTube TV subscription comes with unlimited DVR space and a selection of around 90 channels. In short, the base YouTube TV subscription is nothing to sneeze out. Yes, it’s more expensive than a baseline cable plan with limited DVR space and 40 channels, but the benefits you get make the extra money worth it.
And all of that is without mentioning labor costs. Cable TV plans don’t involve filling out payment info and then being ready to go. Rather, you have to schedule and pay for installation as well as equipment. With YouTube TV, starting to watch cable is as easy as filling in your payment details.
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No commitment, no contract, no problem with YouTube TV
Say goodbye to cancelation fees.
Signing up for YouTube TV is far easier than signing up for cable. But, you also have to consider the opposite end of a cable plan — canceling. Traditional cable is infamously difficult to get rid of. YouTube TV is not. Usually, this difficulty is due to contracts that deem that you have signed up for service for a set amount of months. Canceling before this amount of time has elapsed usually leads to exorbitant cancelation fees. There’s also the other end of difficulty, which usually comes in the form of customer service lines that take hours to deal with.
You also have to consider the opposite end of a cable plan — canceling. Traditional cable is infamously difficult to get rid of. YouTube TV is not.
Comparatively, YouTube TV is a dream. There’s no set planning with YouTube TV, it is flatly a month-to-month service. And canceling your YouTube TV subscription takes less than five clicks from YouTube TV’s home page.
YouTube TV also has an alternative to canceling that lets you keep your library during a period of non-payment.Pausing your YouTube TV subscriptioninvolves picking a set amount of time where your account will continue to exist exactly as you left it, while you lose access to the service. During this time, you also no longer pay for the service. This function is great for sports fans who only shell out for YouTube TV for just one sports season. Once the season is over, you can just pause your subscription until the start of the next season.
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The truly premium cable experience isn’t even on cable
Price doesn’t always make right.
With traditional cable being more expensive, you’d at least figure it would be more intuitive or just an overall better experience. But it isn’t! In every possible way, when it comes to ease of use, YouTube TV is better. The most obvious way YouTube TV is better is the actual look of YouTube TV. YouTube has been the place to stream videos on the internet for a long time, and there’s been plenty of time for the UI of streaming to be perfected. That level of refinement shows when using YouTube TV.
Everything you could want to do on YouTube TV is also extremely quick and snappy. Want to look at and maybe purchase some add-ons? It’s just as easy as actually subscribing to YouTube TV was. Want to record every college football game this season? It just takes one click to set that up. Rewinding a show or movie is precise and responsive, and turning on closed captions takes seconds. Anything that could otherwise be a pain with traditional cable is no problem at all with YouTube TV.Streaming has changed how we watch TV, and a lot of the luxuries that we’ve come to expect with streaming are baked in to YouTube TV.
Perhaps the biggest advantage YouTube TV has is portability. Accessing your service isn’t tied to a service box, it’s just tied to your ability to access the YouTube TV app. This also means you can watch YouTube TV anywhere, so long as you’re not abroad. But as long as you’re within the country, you can open up YouTube TV and watch whatever you want to watch on cable, along with all of your DVR recordings.
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