In December 2024, YouTube TV raised its rates again, this time to $83 per month, an increase of about $50 since the service launched in 2017. It’s the latest live TV streaming service to hike prices — Hulu + Live TV hit $82 in August 2024 and FuboTV’s cheapest tier climbed to $80 in January.
Even in the $80 range, these are cheaper than cable in many markets, but the gap is steadily narrowing — and at least you don’t need a contract or any special equipment like cable.
Other distinctions that once separated broadcast, streaming, and cable TV are also disappearing, with standard streaming platforms offering linear channels and live programming, and free ad-supported streaming (FAST) services like Plex and Pluto reminiscent of broadcast TV from long ago.
It’s no surprise that cord-cutters might need a little help making sense of it all, so we tried out all the major services out there, testing each one in terms of content, user experience, live sports and news offerings, and of course, price so you can find the best live TV streaming service for you.
Monthly price: $83/month and up | Local channels: Yes | Sports coverage: National, local, international | On-demand: Yes | 4K live streams: Yes (with add-ons) | Total channels: 100+ (base plan) | DVR limits: Unlimited, 9-month expiration | Profiles per account: 6 | Simultaneous streams at home: 3 | Picture-in-picture: Yes (mobile and computer) | Multiview: Yes Free trial: Yes (duration varies)
In mid-December 2024, subscribers received an email informing them that YouTube TV’s price would increase again, this time to $83, which is a $10 increase from the previous $8 increase in March 2023. Still, Google’s option makes a strong case for offering the best streaming service for live TV.
Compared to our top pick for sports, YouTube TV covers major and minor teams, regional games, and national contests almost as well. It gives you clear navigation, a great search function, unlimited DVR, and comprehensive network coverage. But, even beyond the price increase, YTTV is financially unsustainable if you’re not great at resisting temptation.
Upon signing up, you’re presented with nearly 50 different add-ons, including 4K resolution, premium channels, and themed packages. Even if you fight the urge to include Max, Shudder, and Acorn TV at signup, the allure remains because it’s alarmingly easy to add more to your subscription — when I searched for a program on a network I didn’t have, I was prompted to add it.
And of course, you can rent or buy movies that aren’t currently showing on any channel, just like you can through YouTube. While it’s convenient to be able to order anything I want, I can easily see this raising someone’s bill far beyond Google’s listed price per month.
Still, it’s nice to have all your entertainment in one place. And if you just want the add-ons, you can actually subscribe to most of the standalone networks without paying for the base plan. Either way, you get a familiar user experience, with navigation you’ll recognize if you’ve spent some time on YouTube on a regular basis. Not surprisingly, Google’s search function was the best, quickly finding the shows and games I searched for and giving me clear options to watch and record.
When signing up, you can also choose your favorite shows, networks, and teams, which are added to your library. YouTube TV then records them automatically. You get unlimited cloud DVR space (though recordings expire after nine months) and it’s very easy to add programming to your library.
Like a real cable experience, YouTube TV autoplays the last program you watched on startup by default, but this was the only service that allowed me to turn that feature off by going into the settings.
Finding and recording an upcoming game was easy. Once a game was recorded, I had to search a bit to find it in my library (turns out single games are listed under the Events heading, not under Sports). But after that, playback was simple and included an appealing extra feature: You can either play a recorded game from the beginning or press the watch’s play key.
The latter gives you 12 to 20 highlight snippets, each about 10 seconds long. It focuses on the most impressive shots in an NBA bout and includes every goal in an MLS matchup. The feature was available for NCAA basketball and in-season major U.S. leagues (hockey, soccer, and basketball at the time of testing). Overseas and more minor sports didn’t have the feature.
Sports fans will also appreciate the new Multiview feature YouTube TV added in mid-2024, which lets you choose up to four sports, news, and weather channels from a select list and watch them all on your screen at the same time. If you find yourself constantly switching back and forth between games, this could save you some hassle.