I work for a Telecom company which will be partnering with YouTubeTV for their residential customers in lieu of competing directly with cable. As a result, they are offering what I understand is a pretty good employee promotion, which has got me considering “cutting the cord.”
Please tell me your experiences with YouTubeTV or similar services. I am t total n00b when it comes to live TV streaming services.
If you like the channels it offers, it is the best streaming cable bundle. It has an unlimited DVR (which is fun if you like sports). It has a good UI, where you can make your guide just your favorite channels. And the profiles are great - each person in your household can have their very different setups.
What led me away from it was the increase in price (it’s $65 a month now). I have SlingTV for which I pay $45 a month (though I realize they did a price increase of $5 - current customers are going to get charged for it at the end of the Summer I’m sure).
I had YouTube TV for about a year and a half in lieu of cable or antenna. IIRC, it was $45 a month when I first joined and was somewhere between Sling and Playstation Vue (RIP) in terms of channel selection.
As a sports junkie, my biggest requirement was that I have the local Fox Sports regional network so that I could watch Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings. YouTube TV gave me this at a rate (first 45/mo, then 65/mo) that was cheaper than what the local cable and satellite providers offer basic packages at.
I cut the cord with YouTube TV a few months ago when they stopped carrying our Fox Sports station because of a fee dispute. This had happened with another streaming provider that we had previously (Hulu Live TV), and being a sports junkie this was a dealbreaker.
As much as I hate it, we’re now locked into a DirecTV contract, since unlike with the streaming services a portion of my monthly bill goes directly towards a ‘regional sports network fee’, pretty much ensuring that I’m going to have access to the Fox Sports channels for the life of the contract.
The user experience is not necessarily as fluid as regular cable due to the nature of streaming. If you like channel surfing and jumping between channels, YTTV is going to feel clunky. FF/REW over streaming isn’t as smooth as having your own DVR in your house. But for just regular watching TV, it’s fine. I believe they have a free trial you can try before you decide.
Again - total n00b:
Is it a separate app, or does it run through the YouTube app on my Rokus and Firesticks?
It’s a separate app that is different from the YouTube app. It’s like Netflix, Hulu, etc. It’s a little confusing to call it YouTubeTV since it’s not really anything to do with the YouTube content you’re familiar with. Here’s what I know of the YouTube offerings:
YouTube - The regular YouTube for watching videos (ad supported) YouTube app
YouTube Red (or Premium) - The regular YouTube, but without ads YouTube app with login
YouTubeTV - A cable-like package for watching regular TV channels YouTubeTV app
We’ve had it about a month, and this is my husband’s main complaint. He watches far more than I do. But the difference between YTTV and the cable package we had is close to $100/month, which is not insignificant for retirees. I can deal with his whining for $100/mo. 
And I like that we can get our local stations. In fact, the quality of signal seems better than what we got from cable.
We have 2 smart TVs that have the app, and a new Roku for the other TV. Our old Roku didn’t support YTTV for some reason.
My experience with YouTube TV is, they say click here for a free trial, and when you do, they take you a screen that says you’ll be charged $65 for your ‘free trial.’ So, no thanks.
I’ve had YouTubeTV for the last year or so and I’m pretty happy with it, even with the price hike. I had SlingTV before that.
I got it because we don’t have cable and I was desperate to get it free for two weeks so I could watch some bowl games. I did the free trial of both Fubo and YouTube and YouTube was far better - probably because my browser is Chrome and I have Chromecast.
I thought it was fine but I’m not sure I’d pay whatever they charged for it long term. It just reminded me that cable is pretty much a crap product I have no interest in supporting with my hard-earned money.
After ditching cable (Frontier Fiber Optic), we had Hulu Live for a year or so and we were generally happy with it, though we did sometimes experience lag on sporting events. We then went to YouTubeTV ($65) for about a year and were happy with it until the fight with Regional Fox Sports. A few weeks ago we switched to AT&T TV. $80 package in order to get Regional FoxSports, but includes “free” HBO which we were already paying for anyway. So, basically the same price as YouTubeTV for us. We are good with it so far.
Is it a separate app, or does it run through the YouTube app on my Rokus and Firesticks?
On the TV that I run DirecTV through, it’s a newer model Samsung smart tv. It’s the kind of TV where you can install apps right onto the TV without needing a Roku or Firestick. For that TV, there was a YouTube TV app in the Samsung app store that I downloaded and installed directly to the TV.
For my older TV that is ‘dumb’, I had the app installed on a Firestick that was plugged into the TV instead, but otherwise they both worked the same.
I switched from cable to YouTubeTV about a year ago. I was extremely hesitant to do it, but I don’t regret it one bit. I have zero problems with picture quality or streaming issues, it receives almost all of the channels I would want, and the unlimited DVR I cannot say enough about. I also tacked on several Showtime channels for a few bucks extra a month.
Yeah, this pissed me off a bit too. I am a die hard Wings fan - at least I was when they were good - and I do enjoy catching a few innings of a Tiger game now and then. But just the other day Fox Sports Detroit announced that they are re-branding themselves as Bally Sports Detroit. Maybe this will change things with YouTubeTV access, who knows.
Whether our Detroit sportsball teams are worth watching is a discussion for another thread. 
mmm