Video streaming service YouTube TV announced today that it has or soon will offer a number of networks, added markets in which it will operate and said that its subscription price will increase by $5 beginning next month. YouTube TV markets will include Lexington, Dayton, Honolulu, Richmond, Mobile and Syracuse in coming months.
New networks added include TNT, Adult Swim, TBS, CNN, the Cartoon Network, truTV and Turner Classic Movies. Networks that soon will be added are NBA TV, MLB Network, and NBA League Pass. The streaming service MLB.TV will be available for an extra charge. YouTube TV offers more than 50 networks.
YouTube TV Markets
YouTube TV also announced that in the coming weeks it will add and will have a presence in the top 100 U.S. markets, which will cover more than 85% of U.S. households. A story at Variety on the moves has a larger group of new cities – including, for instance, Champaign and Springfield, IL; Plattsburgh, NY; El Paso, TX and Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, PA
The cost of YouTube TV will rise to $40 per month on March 13. Current subscribers and those signing up before that date will pay $35 per month.
YouTube TV launched last April in major markets including the New York City metro, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Chicago and Philadelphia. It is one of a new breed of streaming services that resemble traditional pay-TV offerings. Other such services, which are known as virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (vMVPDs), include Sling TV, DIRECT TV NOW and PlayStation Vue.
On February 1, YouTube TV and Roku announced that that the service would be available on a wide selection of the vendor’s platforms, including all Roku TVs, Roku Ultra, Roku Streaming Stick+ and a number of others.
A Variety story also points out that HBO and networks from Viacom, Discovery Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive still are absent from the YouTube TV line-up.
