Fed up with YouTube TV’s next price hike? Try this

19.12.2024 16:00

PC World

If YouTube TV’s forthcoming price hike feels like a breaking point to you, you’re not alone.

Over the last week, I’ve heard from a bunch of folks who say the rate hike—from $73 per month to $83 per month, starting January 13, 2025—is the last straw. They’re now seeking alternatives to YouTube TV that will provide comparable channel coverage for less.

Unfortunately, that sort of easy escape hatch doesn’t exist. Like every other live TV service (including satellite and cable), YouTube TV keeps raising prices because TV programmers keep demanding more money for their channels. Unless the entire industry embraces cheaper, more flexible bundles, the bill for all of these services will keep going up.

This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best live TV streaming services.

The only alternative is to ditch your big pay TV package entirely. While this approach does involve sacrifice, the savings can be significant. Here are your options:

Consider an antenna

With an inexpensive over-the-air antenna and good-enough reception, you can watch the big four broadcast channels—ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC—for free, along with PBS and a smattering of rerun-centric subchannels. An antenna won’t entirely replace a bigger bundle, but it’ll give you a big head start. You can even set up an over-the-air DVR to record shows for later.

Antennas won’t work for everyone. Roughly speaking, you’ll want to be within at most 30 miles of local broadcast stations to use an indoor antenna, and within 60 miles for an outdoor model. Even then, obstructions and topography can impact the signal. Use the Antennaweb site to look up nearby stations for a sense of what you need, and be prepared for some trial and error. If you’re ready to experiment, we have a list of the best indoor and outdoor antennas available.

Stream (some) local stations

If an antenna isn’t feasible, you can stream some local stations instead, but it’ll cost you:

Paramount+ with Showtime ($13 per month) includes a live feed of your nearest CBS station, including NFL coverage, along with on-demand access to primetime CBS shows. The cheaper Paramount+ Essential tier with ads ($8 per month) does not include CBS, but does offer the NFL games. You can often get Paramount+ for free in one-month increments.
Peacock Premium Plus ($14 per month) includes a feed of your nearest NBC station, including Sunday Night Football, plus on-demand access to primetime NBC shows. The cheaper Premium tier with ads ($8 per month) does not include a local NBC feed, but does carry NFL games.
The PBS app includes live feeds of local PBS stations for free, along with on-demand PBS programming. An optional $5-per-month “Passport” donation unlocks additional content.

You can also use the free NBC and ABC apps to watch some network TV shows without a subscription, while the Paramount+ app offers some CBS programs for free as well.

Unfortunately, live feeds of ABC and Fox are unavailable without a large pay TV package, but you can watch primetime shows from both networks on Hulu, which starts at $10 per month.

Look for live news

The major cable news networks—CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC—are not available without a big pay TV package, but you can access some of their content in alternative ways:

Max offers an alternative CNN live feed with much of the same programming, but not in the same order as CNN proper.
MSNBC’s website and mobile app offer live audio of the cable network for free.
Some primetime Fox News shows are available on-demand via Fox Nation, but there’s no live feed.

In lieu of cable news channels, consider the many free options available for streaming the news instead:

Local news: Many local stations offer their newscasts for free if you know where to look. Check out NewsOn, Zeam, Local Now, Haystack News, or your local station’s own website. You’ll also find local news via Tubi, the Roku Channel, Amazon’s Fire TV News app, and the free channels on Google TV devices.
National and international news: Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Xumo, and Sling TV Freestream, all offer round-the-clock streaming news channels, even from major networks such as CBS and NBC. That may scratch the background TV itch you’d otherwise get from cable news.

Find favorite shows elsewhere

Outside of news and sports, it’s rare for cable channels to carry exclusive new shows that aren’t available on standalone streaming services. If there’s a show you like on YouTube TV (or cable), sites like Reelgood or MyBundle can tell you where else to find them.

And if by chance a show is only on cable—like Yellowstone, whose final season was exclusive to Paramount Network—you can always buy that show individually through stores like Amazon Video, Fandango, or Apple TV.

Sort through sports streaming options

Sports are where replacing a service like YouTube TV gets tricky.

Currently, there’s no way to watch ABC or Fox without a big TV package or an antenna. ESPN isn’t available on a standalone basis either—although that will change in 2025—nor are FS1, FS2, or college conference channels such as SEC Network and Big Ten Network.

So what can you get without a service like YouTube TV? Some options:

As I mentioned earlier, the ad-free tiers of Paramount+ and Peacock include live feeds of CBS and NBC respectively, including all sports coverage.
Max streams all sports coverage from TNT, TBS, and TruTV. This will eventually cost an extra $10 per month on top of a standard Max subscription, but is included at no extra charge for now.
Many regional sports networks are now available on a standalone basis. I’ve compiled the options for NBA and NHL teams.
MLB TV and NBA League Pass offer games that are not broadcast in your local market. ESPN+ offers the same service for NHL games.
NFL+ offers local and nationally-televised football games, but only on a phone or tablet.
Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, and even Netflix are picking up more sports programming as well, but their offerings are fairly scattershot.

I’ve also compiled some additional tools to help sort through the sports streaming options, particularly if you’re trying to follow a specific team or league.

Not ready to unbundle? Some other options:

For now, the most complete live TV streaming service that’s markedly cheaper than YouTube TV is Sling TV. It offers a smaller bundle of pay TV channels, but still carries major sports channels, with three available base packages:

Sling TV Orange ($46 per month) is currently the cheapest way to access ESPN and other ESPN-owned channels, such as SEC Network.
Sling TV Blue ($46 per month) is the cheapest way to access FS1 and FS2. It also includes live access to NBC and ABC in some markets, and on-demand programming from all three channels everywhere.
Sling Orange + Blue ($61 per month) combines both of the above packages.

Unfortunately, Sling’s local channel coverage is lacking, with ABC, Fox, and NBC available only in select markets, and no CBS anywhere. For that reason, it pairs best with an over-the-air antenna.

Hulu + Live TV is also worth a look. While it’s no cheaper than what YouTube TV will soon cost at $83 month, it includes the full Disney bundle (Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu’s on-demand catalog) at no extra charge. If you subscribe to any of those services on their own, you’ll save money by switching from YouTube TV to Hulu + Live TV instead.

Lastly, you might take a look at some TV packages that don’t include sports or local channels. Because they omit the most expensive content on cable, their prices are significantly lower:

Frndly TV ($7 per month) offers Hallmark Channel and a smattering of other largely rerun-centric channels.
Philo ($28 per month) offers entertainment channels with a big emphasis on reality TV, but no sports, broadcast, or major cable news channels.
Comcast’s NowTV is a $20-per-month bundle of entertainment channels and Peacock, with an option to add Netflix (with ads) and Apple TV+ for $10 per month extra. It’s available to customers with Xfinity home internet or Comcast’s cheaper Now Internet plans.
Spectrum TV Stream is a $40 bundle of entertainment channels that also includes CNN and Fox News, available to Spectrum home internet customers.

Just let go

If you’re thinking that the cost of a la carte streaming adds up to more than YouTube TV or even cable, you’d be right. This has been the case for years, is not an original thought, and entirely misses the point.

Unbundling your TV options does not automatically save you money, but it does let you decide what’s truly worth paying for. For that reason, standalone services are also highly incentivized to offer seasonal sales, comeback deals, and other discounts. These can considerably defray the cost of having a bunch of services at the same time.

When you drop a live TV streaming service such as YouTube TV, you’re adopting a different mindset, in which you make peace with not having everything. The sooner you realize you weren’t going to watch it all anyway, the easier unbundling becomes.

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