I hate how expensive YouTube TV is. Here’s why I pay for it anyway

I love YouTube TV. Out of all of the streaming subscriptions I pay for, it’s the one I use essentially the most. Between watching reside sports activities, throwing on HGTV for background noise whereas I do chores round the home, or placing Nat Geo Wild on for my canine whereas I’m out getting groceries, I use it a number of instances per day each single day. That mentioned, I completely hate how expensive it is.

When YouTube TV launched in 2017, the $35/month worth appeared too good to be true. And as it seems, it was. The service obtained a few modest worth will increase in 2018 and 2019 to $40 after which $50. It went as much as $65 in 2020, and when I signed up for YouTube TV in 2023, it value $73. Now, in 2025, YouTube TV prices a hefty $83 monthly — that means its worth has elevated by over 137% since its launch. That’s a genuinely disgusting quantity.

These worth will increase are the one worst factor about YouTube TV, and I don’t blame anybody in any respect for canceling their subscription due to them. Nevertheless, I say that as somebody who — regardless of how expensive it is — continues to pay for it month after month. As a lot as I hate the month-to-month invoice, right here’s why I’m nonetheless subscribed to YouTube TV in 2025.

I used to not care about sports activities in any respect. For many of my life, I ignored them fully and couldn’t be much less excited about them. However during the last three years, I’ve gotten very into faculty basketball and the NFL. Meaning sports activities watching is a daily prevalence in my residence, and that is an space the place YouTube TV is outstanding.

When watching sports activities on YouTube TV, the app provides just a few extra UI components and options particularly for them. One among these is a devoted stats web page that exhibits the reside rating and crew breakdowns for key occasions in a recreation. Whereas watching basketball, for instance, you possibly can see how many turnovers, blocks, rebounds, and so on., every crew has gotten, plus their area objective and three-pointer percentages. You additionally get a breakdown of the gamers for every crew, with particular person stats for all of them.

One of many different pages lists key performs for the sport. Whereas watching the Colorado St. vs. Memphis recreation not too long ago, I needed to go away throughout it to stroll my canine, and when I obtained again inside, my companion informed me I had missed a ridiculous three-pointer that CSU made. So, I opened up the important thing performs web page and instantly discovered the play my companion was speaking about.

May I have manually skimmed by the sport to seek out it? Positive. However if you happen to’ve ever tried skipping by a recreation to discover a particular play, you understand how a lot of a ache within the rear it might be. With the ability to have a look at an inventory of key performs and choose the one I need to see a replay of is nothing wanting magical.

And there’s extra nonetheless. The scores web page exhibits scores for associated reside video games in the identical league, which is especially useful throughout March Insanity and the early a part of the season within the NFL. You possibly can even hyperlink your fantasy soccer account and see your fantasy stats proper alongside a reside recreation.

None of this issues if you happen to don’t care about sports activities, however if you happen to do, it makes watching them on YouTube TV far superior to any competing service. You could possibly watch most of the similar video games on Hulu or Sling, however they received’t be practically as partaking as they’re on YouTube TV.

Talking of sports activities, one other hook YouTube TV has in me is its providing of the NFL Sunday Ticket. I signed up for the Sunday Ticket for the primary time about halfway by this most up-to-date NFL season, and, sadly for my pockets, it was phenomenal.

The Sunday Ticket provides you entry to each single NFL recreation, and if you happen to’re a soccer nut like I am, it’s merely the most effective. It’s the explanation I was capable of watch the Vikings pull off an unbelievable time beyond regulation win towards the Bears throughout Week 12 final season, and that alone was virtually well worth the worth of admission.

That worth is fairly excessive ($378 for the season), however if you happen to love the sport of soccer, it’s price it — and it’s one thing you possibly can’t get with some other reside TV streaming service.

When you may watch all these video games individually and manually swap between them, doing it with multiview is the best way to go. This lets you watch two, three, or 4 video games at a time, and it’s simply as superb as it sounds. There have been a number of weekends final fall when my TV had 4 NFL video games taking part in concurrently, and it was a factor of magnificence. It’s additionally turn out to be useful proper now throughout March Insanity, the place 4 or 5 video games are occurring directly through the first two rounds of the event.

Additionally, whereas I don’t use it as usually for this, I respect that YouTube TV has some multiview choices outdoors of reside sports activities — together with a information one with Fox Information, CNN, MSBC, and BBC Information, plus a enterprise information multiview that features CNBC and Fox Enterprise. As somebody who likes to maintain tabs on all main information shops, that is nice.

I’ve talked so much about sports activities, so let’s transfer to one thing extra normal. Whether or not you’re a sports activities fanatic or not, there’s lots to love about YouTube TV’s app design.

Whereas it will not be something groundbreaking, YouTube TV does a fantastic job of laying all the pieces out in a easy, easy-to-understand method. The Dwell tab is a standard reside TV information, and your Library neatly organizes all the pieces you’ve saved to your DVR.

In the meantime, the principle House web page exhibits beneficial reside TV channels, upcoming sports activities, and filters to flick thru content material by totally different classes (together with actuality, comedy, exhibits, films, and so on.). Whether or not you’re utilizing the Android app or the TV app on one thing like a Google TV Streamer or Apple TV, it’s a clear, simple expertise that I’ve by no means had a problem with.

Top-of-the-line issues about YouTube TV is how a lot management you could have over the information. Along with the principle default view, it’s also possible to set up the order channels seem by A-Z, Z-A, or by your most watched. What I use, although, is the “customized” possibility.

Right here, you possibly can select which TV channels you do (or don’t) need to seem in your information, which of them you need to mark as your “prime channels,” and fully customise the order during which each channel seems. There’s so much to dig into, and organising your information precisely how you need it does take a while, however I completely love that Google enables you to do that.

Having over 100 channels to select from is nice, however there are some I don’t care about and others I watch day by day. The choice to cover undesirable channels and make those I care about extra simply seen is superb, and it’s simply considered one of YouTube TV’s robust factors.

YouTube TV is improbable for at-home watching, however it’s equally nice for use whereas touring. I was happening one to 2 work journeys monthly final yr, and I used YouTube TV flawlessly throughout all of them.

Surprisingly, YouTube TV’s journey restrictions are tremendous affordable. As long as you employ YouTube TV as soon as each three months in your house space, you’re free to make use of it wherever and as usually as you’d like all through the U.S. I’ve even managed to get YouTube TV engaged on some in-flight Wi-Fi networks.

The most effective half is that YouTube TV doesn’t make you leap by any hoops at any time. Once you first open the app outdoors of your own home space, you’ll get a pop-up asking you to verify that you just’re touring. When you try this, you can begin watching simply as you normally would.

YouTube TV has so much going for it, and for what I need from a reside TV streamer, it’s about as good as it will get. The sports activities expertise is top-tier, multiview is a godsend, the app is well-designed and splendidly customizable, and the service is a good journey companion, too.

That every one mentioned, there must be a breaking level in the end.

As a lot as I use and revel in YouTube TV, there’s no denying that $83/month is a lot of cash — particularly contemplating simply how low-cost YouTube TV was just a few brief years in the past. I may most likely abdomen one other small worth hike to $85/month, but when it goes any increased, I’ll severely take into account canceling and switching to a different service.

Sadly, given YouTube TV’s observe document right here, that’s virtually definitely what’s going to occur. When that subsequent worth enhance does inevitably come, Google must make it justified. Embody 4K streaming high quality as a default function. Give all YouTube TV subscribers a YouTube Premium or YouTube Premium Lite membership included. If we’re taking a look at one other $10/month enhance within the subsequent yr or two, it has to return with one thing greater than Google’s repeated excuse of needing to “sustain with the rising value of content material.”

Google has one thing good going with YouTube TV, however worth hike after worth hike has — understandably — made it far much less interesting to lots of people. Google hasn’t priced me out of the service fairly but, however I’m not assured that’ll be true a yr or two from now.