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Back in February YouTube announced YouTube TV<\/a>, a $35 TV streaming service it hopes might kill your cable box. At the time, they didn\u2019t say exactly when it\u2019d launch \u2014 just that it\u2019d be \u201csoon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSoon,\u201d it seems, means today. YouTube is rolling out the service in five major US cities this morning.<\/p>\n YouTube TV<\/a> takes a bunch of the more popular U.S. cable channels \u2014 ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, CW, Disney, SyFy, ESPN and 40+ more \u2014 and crams them into one app. It\u2019ll cost $35 a month, and you\u2019ll be able to stream to six devices simultaneously with each plan.<\/p>\n Alas, working around the existing monolith that is the cable industry takes a while\u2026 so YouTube TV will roll out in different regions over time, starting with today\u2019s launch in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Google sent me a pre-release build of the YouTube TV app, and I spent a bit of time with it prior to launch. Not enough for a full review, but enough for a few thoughts.<\/p>\n The app is well-designed and intuitive. It\u2019s composed of just three tabs: Home, Library and Live. Home is your standard \u201cstuff we think you should watch\u201d page, Library is where you\u2019ll find movies and shows you\u2019ve saved (more on that in a second) and Live is a big ol\u2019 list of everything currently playing on every channel YouTube TV currently offers up.<\/p>\n This Live interface is particularly slick; as you scroll, a preview of each channel\u2019s live feed slides into place at the top almost instantly. It feels a lot like flipping channels to see what\u2019s on the ol\u2019 cable box \u2014 a concept that, in this age of picking and choosing anything you want to watch on demand, seems to be fading away. As someone who dropped his cable subscription half a decade ago, I forgot how natural it feels to just turn on some channel and let it babble in the background. I also forgot how absolutely horrible daytime TV is.<\/p>\n After a few frame-rate hiccups that YouTube was able to patch away, the video quality was quite solid. Even fast-moving sports and action flicks look pretty darn good.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t want to watch TV on your phone or tablet all the time? As you\u2019d expect from a Google-built video app, it\u2019s got Chromecast support \u2014 and like everything that has Chromecast, it\u2019s super simple. Tap the Chromecast icon, pick which TV you want the video on and you\u2019re set.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a built-in \u201cunlimited DVR\u201d feature that lets you tap any show to record any and all future instances of it. It\u2019s a nice touch for sports or shows that aren\u2019t on Hulu\/etc. (or those that make Hulu\/etc. wait a week after airing) \u2014 but beyond those scenarios, if I\u2019m going to be planning ahead to watch something after it\u2019s live, I\u2019m probably turning somewhere else for it.<\/p>\n (One curious bit in an otherwise straightforward design: If you want to browse a specific channel\u2019s shows, you first tap into the search bar. It\u2019s not the first place I thought to look, but it works.)<\/p>\n So, should you sign up?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re one of those people who ditched cable TV\u00a0long ago for Netflix\/Hulu\/etc. and haven\u2019t looked back, you might not be missing much here.<\/p>\n If, however, you\u2019re staying tied to your monthly cable bill for the sake of catching things live every once in a while (news\/sports\/etc.) and<\/em> YouTube TV is available in your area and<\/em> it\u2019s got the channels you watch, it\u2019s worth a look<\/a>. The first month is free, and if you pay for a month beyond that, they\u2019ll throw in a Chromecast\u2026 which, with an MSRP of $35, makes that second month kinda-sorta free too.<\/p>\n The app should roll out for both iOS and Android today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/screenshot_20170404-235541.png?w=383&h=680\")
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YouTube TV takes a bunch of the more popular U.S. cable channels — ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, CW, Disney, SyFy, ESPN and 40+ more — and crams them into one app. It’ll cost $35 a month, and you’ll be able to stream to six devices simultaneously with each plan, starting with today’s launch in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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