YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#31

Post by heyheyhey » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:35 PM UTC

n0zmer wrote: post #22

commiepatrol wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*legally. There are plenty of ways to watch live HD sports.

Conveniently too. Last year I went to a friend's house to watch a football game and he refuses to pay for YouTube TV or any sports streaming because 'theres free streams on the internet'. He had to get up every 5 minutes to refresh Chrome on his laptop he had connected to the TV or find a new stream because they get taken down so quickly. 70$ a month is well worth ever dealing with that shit

Agreed.

I've been streaming sports illegally almost 20 years now. I'm fine dealing with the ad-infested websites and constant refreshing of streams taken down for once a month events like UFC fights.

But for every day? I'll gladly pay the $1-2 a day to never deal with that.

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#32

Post by Retric » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:37 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #28

I'm mainly just annoyed that I can't sign up for a small package with any service. I want literally locals plus whatever cheap basic cable networks want to tag along just for the exposure. $15 sounds fair for what I could get with an antenna but can't due to HOA rules and being lazy and not wanting to poke holes in my house, but with inflation I can accept that the true number should be $19.99. I haven't heard of suc…

You could setup an antenna for TV or Ham radio etc in your attic or similar space. Sticking them on the roof generally offers the best reception and doesn’t take up space in your house, but even just TV rabbit ears work reasonably well for local stations.

Local TV is rarely worth the effort, but it can be a cheap way to watch the Olympics or your local sports team etc.

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#33

Post by dymk » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:40 PM UTC

dw_arthur wrote: post #12

costanzaDynasty wrote: post #3

Because its alway been cable. Just Youtube, Sony, Fubo etc are the cable provider. Yes it streams, but it was never the same as a streaming service. Something like PlutoTv or the soon to be oversaturated FAST market is just rabbit ears. Mono culture is coming back big in the next couple of years, and this is how. When our streaming forefathers spoke of a la carte as the future, they should have specified each individ…

Monoculture won't be coming back since a part of it was everyone watching or listening to something at the same time. If you missed the finale of Seinfeld or Cheers you'd have to wait a long time to see it again. No one is keeping their calendar open to watch any sort of media these days.

HBO begs to differ

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#34

Post by Our_Benefactors » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:41 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #28

I'm mainly just annoyed that I can't sign up for a small package with any service. I want literally locals plus whatever cheap basic cable networks want to tag along just for the exposure. $15 sounds fair for what I could get with an antenna but can't due to HOA rules and being lazy and not wanting to poke holes in my house, but with inflation I can accept that the true number should be $19.99. I haven't heard of suc…

Exterior antennas for broadcast tv are obsolete. Get a coaxial antenna from any big box store, put it behind your TV, boom free HD broadcasts.

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#35

Post by atyppo » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:42 PM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #10

LegitShady wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube tv is not the same as YouTube premium.

This is incredibly stupid naming. I saw these prices and just entirely gave up even thinking about premium until I saw the note (and then I still gave up on it, anyway).

If you use an Argentina VPN, it's ~$2/month

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#36

Post by SomeHacker44 » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:44 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #28

I'm mainly just annoyed that I can't sign up for a small package with any service. I want literally locals plus whatever cheap basic cable networks want to tag along just for the exposure. $15 sounds fair for what I could get with an antenna but can't due to HOA rules and being lazy and not wanting to poke holes in my house, but with inflation I can accept that the true number should be $19.99. I haven't heard of suc…

I would look into it, but I believe the FCC has preempted antenna rules. Last I looked (maybe 15 yrs ago) that was the case for me.

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#37

Post by mellosouls » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:44 PM UTC

YouTube (Premium) subscription pricing stinks if you're outside the US as well. You're ripped off on what feels like a nationalistic basis.

Eg. Last time I looked the annual option which saves money over the monthly wasn't available in the UK and the monthly was the same number despite the currency differences. ie $11.99 per month against £11.99. Outrageous.

I was on a cheap trial but cancelled on principle when I checked to extend.

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#38

Post by kmeisthax » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:45 PM UTC

costanzaDynasty wrote: post #3

Because its alway been cable. Just Youtube, Sony, Fubo etc are the cable provider. Yes it streams, but it was never the same as a streaming service. Something like PlutoTv or the soon to be oversaturated FAST market is just rabbit ears. Mono culture is coming back big in the next couple of years, and this is how. When our streaming forefathers spoke of a la carte as the future, they should have specified each individ…

Ala carte was most certainly not the streaming dream; in fact it's the exact opposite. The selling point of early streaming Netflix was that it had everything for one price - i.e. more bundled than cable.

The current situation of having 10 streaming services exists because Netflix wouldn't raise their prices to become cable. Netflix's business model only worked because the people making the content undervalued streaming rights. When they started asking for real money, Netflix balked[0], so they pulled their shows to their own service so they could charge users directly.

[0] Because $9.99/mo is a more attractive price than $72.99/mo

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#39

Post by jghn » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:47 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #13

I dislike price rises, and related I dislike paying for expensive sports licensing I don't watch. Sports fans should pay for sports instead of everyone subsidizing it. That being said, as someone who helped family move off of cable in the last year, this is only inching closer to cable's headline pricing which is largely a fiction. All the big four providers of cable/satellite have the following pricing: - Advertised…

Exactly. I had a 24 month special deal expiring recently and switched to YouTube TV. I kept the same internet plan, and between that, YouTube, and Netflix (it was free withy Old deal) I’m still paying about $50 (soon to be 40ish) lees per month than I had on the special deal price

Re: YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing

#40

Post by pdntspa » Thu, Mar 16, 2023, 10:48 PM UTC

This isn't entirely relevant, but I just want to say I am sick of our society's obsessive fascination with TV. It's solitary, sedentary, and passive. And then we bitch and complain when the people cracking this whip make it more obnoxious, more expensive, and even less entertaining.

Every show feels the same. The actors seem interchangeable. There's such a limited subset of permitted stories and things that can be said that the whole thing is boring in its homogenization. For most of us, informational programming (the last bastion of decent TV) is now largely replaced with preachy documentaries and voyeuristic glimpses into the lives of shitty, but dramatic people. Our entertainment is an ouroboros constantly digesting itself.

Do something else! Play a videogame. Read a book. Go out and do something calming. Stop worshipping TV and movies and entertainment, and the talented but otherwise largely dumb and unqualified individuals playing all these derivative characters.

And for god sakes stop sucking off the teat of these stupid subscription plans! The least we can do to fight pack is to pirate it.

It truly is the boob tube.