YouTube Streaming TV Service Adds 7 New Major Channels

Seven new major channels were added on Tuesday to the YouTube streaming TV service. Among the channels added are AMC, IFC, WE TV, BBC America, and Sundance TV. Their addition makes the service a better alternative to a traditional cable channel.

Two weeks ago, YouTube streaming TV service added Universo and Telemundo, The Verge reports. More channels, such as ESPN 3, would be added in the future, but the date for its addition was not yet announced. With the entry of new channels, among the shows that subscribers could now watch are “Doctor Who” on BBC America and “The Walking Dead” on AMC Networks.

The YouTube streaming TV service has a subscription fee of $35 a month. It was launched in April in five American cities with cord-cutters as the target client, CNET reports. When it was announced, there were only a few channels available, making some consumers hesitant to sign up and pay the monthly fee until more channels would be added.

Despite the addition of the seven big channels, the YouTube streaming TV service is still slimmer than its competitors such as DirecTV Now and PlayStation Vue since it does not have the three channels Comedy Central, CNN, and TNT from the Turner network. It also lacks the Travel Channel, Food Network, and HGTV channels of the Scripps network, making its appeal still relatively limited especially it only has one TV device, Chromecast of Google.

With the seven new channels, the total channels available on the YouTube streaming TV service is now 46, Android Authority reports. But Showtime and Fox Soccer Plus, despite the entry of the seven channels, remain as $11 and $15 add-ons, respectively. Among the offerings of the service different from its competitors are it is simple to use, there is no content limit on what the subscriber could record, and live TV could be paused. But it has a 720p maximum resolution and is available only in five U.S. cities so far.