OT: NFL Sunday Ticket moves to YouTubeTV
Ouch.
Although, as someone who has been on DirecTV for years because I've wanted (legal) access to all of the NFL games, the sticker shock isn't gigantic. The wife and I both have different out-of-market NFL rooting interests, so this is a must for our household.
I know this has been covered here various times, but what is YouTubeTV like for college football consumption? How is the interface? How well does the DVR work?
I live in SoCal, so it seems like I'll lose various Bally Sports networks if I move over, but if that's the only real change...my life will go on.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:22 AM ^
YouTube TV is, imo, superior to other “cable” providers. Slightly fewer channels than cable, and way fewer than dish, but the price is excellent.
Also, the recording situation is far superior. I added Michigan FB and BBall to my library and every game gets recorded and I never have to think about it. I can watch on my phone and computer too, even when traveling.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:28 AM ^
The only thing I'd add is for things like the football spring game and tournament games, sometimes those don't get recorded and I have to manually add them to the DVR.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:45 AM ^
I have a 3 TV setup in my basement. Any issues running multiple screens at once off of individual Roku devices?
April 11th, 2023 at 11:51 AM ^
I don’t have experience with that, but I’d assume that as long as your internet is fast enough it shouldn’t be an issue.
April 11th, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^
I've never had a Roku so can't help you there. But you can definitely stream on multiple TVs simultaneously from the same account.
April 11th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
No issues. Just need 3 different roku sticks. I've switched to fire sticks because roku wasn't updating their products and I was having sound issues.
Just as an FYI if you do that...your base package is 3 streams simultaneously with YTTV unless you upgrade. Anyone else in the house trying to connect will be locked out.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^
Now we're going down the rabbit-hole:
Is it possible to program a 30-second skip on a Roku remote for YouTubeTV?
April 11th, 2023 at 12:19 PM ^
YTTV fast-forward is 15 seconds on my FireTV. Would assume same for Roku as pretty sure it is a feature in the app itself that isn't device-specific.
Yep, so it's just a quick double tap of FF button on Roku too.
One bad thing about traveling is if you want to start a game from the beginning while the game is still going on. YouTubeTV will not let you do that. You have to wait for the game to stop recording so you can start at the beginning. I think this has to do with it recording the version in your base zipcode. Otherwise, you have to dive in live. Otherwise, the DVR is amazing. I have multiple copies of every Bob's Burgers, King of the Hill, Family Guy, Grey's Anatomy, and whatever else.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:22 AM ^
Youtube TV is great for sports. The only thing their UI/UX lacks compared to cable is the channel surfing, which I haven't done in over ten or twenty years. The DVR is great, the channel inventory is great (for sports). Also you can give access to five different users, which I've used in the past when friends are down on their luck or when family is in town. As long as you have a good internet connection, I would say proceed without hesitation.
April 11th, 2023 at 12:58 PM ^
Good take, I almost forgot was channel surfing was. Do not miss it one iota.
Agree. I don't like how when you hit the back button, it doesn't take you back to the channel you are on. You start back at the top of the channel list. Or some type of last channel. I would like to be able to flip back and forth between two games and not have to go through menus to do that.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:25 AM ^
From my experience YT TV is expensive but worth it for sports. Has the B1G network, redzone add on, easy to use recording, unlimited DVR storage (I think).
April 11th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
You are correct on the "unlimited". Technically it is not DVR, which probably has pluses and minuses, I guess??? You are not recording/storing shows to a physical hard drive that sits in your home. Basically YTTV "does it for you" and so the content resides somewhere in the googleverse. Perhaps there's a techie insider here that knows the details of how it work. I had dish in the past and have YTTV now and I like YTTV a lot more.
April 11th, 2023 at 12:10 PM ^
That's correct. A lot of shows are on demand also so you don't even have to record them. DVR definitely isn't something you should have to worry about with streaming services. Even directv stream finally stopped their assinine 20 hour dvr limit and made it unlimited. Like you said, the "hours" are meaningless since you aren't actually recording anymore.
Personally I don't like the "DVR" for YouTube TV. You're not recording a show you're licensing the right to watch a replay of the show on demand. As such, YTTV can "expire" your recording at whatever time they deem fit. So, if you record a movie on TCM, it can be there one day, and gone the next and without warning. For true DVR services like Xfinity, when you record something, it's "yours" until you delete it or replace the hardware.
Additionally, the "Add" as opposed to "Record" option is great for the whole "I want to record all Michigan sports games" set it and forget it. But it's crappy for wanting individual episodes of shows. I'll use an example that is unique to me, but could be extrapolated to any number of other general situation. A client of mine was on Jake Tapper last week. They're going to want a clip of their appearance on a national media outlet. I can record and rip from a streaming service like YTTV. But when I "Add" Jake Tapper, it records EVERY episode of Jake Tapper between now and when I turn off the Add button. Then, when I do that, I lose all of them. I literally want Wednesday April 5 at 7PM (or whatever), no more no less. YTTV doesn't have this capability.
I think the default is that the recordings stay for 9 months, though of course that could change in general or for a particular show. I didn’t experience problems with the DVR other than one Michigan basketball game where YouTube TV might have had technical problems with their BTN channel during the initial broadcast.
I enjoyed YouTube TV this past college football and basketball season. I am also taking advantage of the fact that it is easy to save money by just pausing it during the off-season.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:33 AM ^
Not sure Bally Channels will be around much longer anyway ...
April 11th, 2023 at 11:37 AM ^
True.
In fact, as a Clippers fan, Ballmer offered a standalone package via app/streaming this season with a bunch of cool upgrades for $100. This is part of the reason I'm not super-worried about it.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:51 AM ^
Clip City, Chip City
April 11th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
Being a Clippers fan puts my Michigan fandom into proper perspective.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
It sounds increasingly likely that they will not be around for long. This isn't an issue for the NFL, but it is for the NBA, MLB, and NHL. The professional leagues have been preparing for their demise though and it sounds like they're prepared to step in and provide regional coverage as necessary.
Here's a recent article form ESPN that does a good job explaining what's happening and how MLB is prepared to handle it.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:36 AM ^
Didn't Directv charge almost $400? As a YTTV subscriber it's cheaper for me than what a directv subscriber paid but I have no need to pay for Sunday Ticket. Don't even really like Redzone that much to be honest.
Other than sports I don't watch much on YouTube tv though. Sucks that they don't have Ballys and recently lost MLB Network though but for NFL, college football and basketball they're great.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
I always got Sunday Ticket for free.
I'd call in August and threaten to cancel, and they'd give it to me for the whole season...plus, they'd knock $50/mo off my bill for the year. It was an annoying dance we'd all play.
In addition, as an AT&T customer, I got HBOMax thrown in for free for life and some other perks.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:38 AM ^
I've had both YouTube TV and Hulu Live and the interface/experience is fine IMO. The only "issue" I've experienced is the lag time in the video compared to regular cable and of course someone viewing the game in-person. That's only a problem if you have a friend that texts you about a play before you've seen it and/or you're following on Twitter.
One of the biggest improvements with YouTube TV having Sunday Ticket is the feature where you can watch 4 games at once (although not sure if YouTube TV selects the 4 games or if you'll be able to select them). This was not an option with DirecTV.
I also was curious how bars/restaurants would handle the transition to YouTube TV since this obviously would require an establishment showing multiple games to significantly increase their wifi bandwidth (likely another significant expense for them). Apparently this was a concern with the NFL as well, so the league created their own platform that allows commercial companies to connect to Sunday Ticket through a more traditional TV/cable channel.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
DirecTV added a four-game mix channel in 2015. You couldn't choose the games, though.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:46 AM ^
Ah, OK. I thought I read that it wasn't at all an option with DirecTV. My guess is, you'll be able to select the 4 games on YouTube TV....which would definitely be an improvement.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
If it was my younger days and I still lived with a group of friends that we could divvy the price up for, this would make sense. I like watching the NFL, but not enough to pay this amount.
That said, we made the switch to YouTube TV last year, and my only regret was not doing it sooner. We were getting bent over a barrel by Xfinity, and ever since the switch we save easily $100/month. All the channels we lost were largely ones we never paid attention to anyway, and we picked up BTN in the process.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
I've been on YTTV for a few years. I think it's great for college football, unlimited DVR works great as well.
April 11th, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
I'll pass for now but only because as a Browns season ticket holder I'd only be able to watch 1/2 the games with a 1:00 pm kick off and when we lose (which is more often than not) I'm generally in no mood to watch more football at 4:00.
And really, as a Browns season ticket holder, one could argue if you really like football at all... maybe you're just a masochist in disguise on Sundays. 🥁
April 11th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
I had DirecTV for many years and switched to YTTV about 4 years ago. It is amazing and much, much better than Xfinity or DirecTV. It has all the channels and the user interface is very easy to navigate. Sports look awesome and they have a limited amount of 4K options (typically marquee football and soccer games; although Fox Big Noon with Michigan was in 4K many games). Highly recommend YTTV.
Moved from DirecTV to YTTV almost three years ago and haven't looked back. I love it. Top notch DVR and easy interface. I was a sucker and routinely purchased the NFL Sunday Ticket as a DirecTV subscriber so I could catch the Lions in action (I live in Packers territory). I'll probably do so again this year so I can ride the Dan Campbell train all the way to {insert next year's Super Bowl host city, which I do not know off of the top of my head}.
Hmm, real question is, can you hack the price by subscribing before June 6th, pay the $250, then pause your subscription until September when football actually kicks off.
Migrated to YTTV a few months ago and have been greatly pleased with the product. My wife and I watch sports mostly, so we set the shows we like and the sports we like to hit our 'library' which is what YTTV calls their dvr. Any sporting even is now watched starting an hour or so into the event so we slip all the commercials...except the Super Bowl. Being a Detroit sports fan, I am hopeful the Bally Sports bankruptcy leads to YTTV viewing capabilities. This is the only thing missing for us, currently.
YTTV isn't cheap, and I've considered forgoing ESPN and switching to sling and getting my rabbit ears working...but the experience of watching sports is GREAT. the "key plays" feature sets it apart. Navigation between multiple games is very easy. The DVR and FFWD/RWD functions are easy to use but not any better or worse than anyone else. But having watched games on ESPN+, Hulu Live and Sling - YTTV is better. NFL fans won't be sad about this.
I appreciate everyone's feedback here. After reading through the comments, I feel much better about making the change.
MGOBLOG for the win!!!!
April 11th, 2023 at 11:17 PM ^
I paid $129.00 the very first year it came out about 30 years ago. And I it was only that single fee even though I used it on 4 tvs. I just had to pay $5.00 on each of the extra tv boxes. But in time it became like $169.00, and it was $169.00 for every tv you had. That meant 4 x $169.00 for me. So I quit it all.
April 11th, 2023 at 11:21 PM ^
Be prepared for about a 5 second delay.
April 12th, 2023 at 10:19 PM ^
I’ve had YTTV since it launched and have rarely been disappointed. This deal is big pickup. I’ve never had a problem watching Michigan games or really any other CFB for that matter.