YouTube TV Now Available In Half Of All U.S. Households

By Todd Spangler, Variety
Published Aug. 17, 2017, 1:45 p.m. ET

YouTube has expanded the internet-delivered YouTube TV subscription service into 14 new U.S. markets, which makes it available to half of all U.S. households.

YouTube TV is also adding two channels to its network lineup — E.W. Scripps’ Newsy national news network and the Tennis Channel — while maintaining the $35-per-month fee. Customers in Boston also will have access to regional sports network NESN, home of the Red Sox.

The new metro areas are: Baltimore; Boston; Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio; Jacksonville-Brunswick, Las Vegas, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Seattle-Tacoma, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota and West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce.

The service includes about 50 channels. According to Google, YouTube TV now offers the most markets with live local broadcast feeds from the four major broadcasters — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC — than any over-the-top competitor. Rivals in the space include AT&T’s DirecTV Now, Dish Network’s Sling TV, Hulu, Sony’s PlayStation Vue and FuboTV.

In addition, YouTube is also announcing that YouTube TV will soon expand into 17 additional markets in the coming weeks, including greater metro areas of: Austin, Birmingham, Cleveland-Akron, Denver, Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Hartford-New Haven, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Oklahoma City, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, San Diego and St. Louis. With the continued expansion of YouTube TV, millions more people are able to stream live sports, live local news and must-see shows from top broadcast and cable networks.

YouTube TV first launched in April in five markets – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago and Philadelphia, before expanding into an additional ten markets that included Washington, DC, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Charlotte and Dallas-Fort Worth.