Listen to this articleSomeday YouTube TV may be great. That day, however, is not today. In less than 24-hours, I went from a trial subscriber to “no way.” Here’s why.
First, you can only watch live tv in certain regions. Even if you sign up in a region which supports live viewing of the major networks you’ll be unable to watch if you travel outside of a region which supports live viewing. This is not a terrible issue, however, the inability to watch the major networks live means that for me YouTube TV is not any better than existing options including DirectTVNow, Sling, PlaystationVue.
The big problem I have is the service offers up to 5 additional shared accounts. Three of which can simultaneously stream content.
The hidden gotcha – true of many of Google’s services – is the family sharing won’t work with G-Suite (aka Google Apps) account.
If Google can figure out how to navigate rush hour traffic in a driverless car they certainly should be able to figure a way to allow G-Suite account holders to check a box in their account which lets G-Suite accounts be treated as if they were “regular” Gmail/Google non-business accounts.
These G-Suite account limitations are just dumb and bad for business. I refuse to support dumb moves like this. I canceled my account immediately upon discovering this hidden defect in YouTube TV family manager.
To sign up for a family group, you must:
- Be 18 or older and have a Google account
- Live in the United States
- Not be part of another family group
- Not be signing up with a G Suite account
Also, forget about buying a YouTube TV subscription and sharing it with friends who are not located in your same region.
From the Google help site:
YouTube TV is currently available to residents of the following areas:
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- San Francisco Bay Area
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