If the monthly price for all of these streaming TV services is going to keep going up, the least they can do is throw in some new features and better video quality, right? That’s what YouTube says you can soon expect from YouTube TV; today, the company announced that in the coming weeks, the service will “introduce a new add-on package with 4K streaming, offline viewing, and unlimited concurrent streams at home.”
Unfortunately, a YouTube TV spokesperson didn’t have much else to share beyond the top-level news of these upcoming additions. It’s not clear whether there will be any limits on what channels or shows support offline downloads, nor is YouTube giving any examples of what content will be available in 4K. One would hope for some sporting events. Currently, customers have a maximum of three concurrent streams, but it seems like YouTube will be removing any such constraints so long as you’re viewing from home.
Offline viewing is pretty rare among the streaming TV apps. Hulu lets you download on-demand TV shows and movies to watch offline, but this doesn’t apply to recordings from its live TV service. Sling TV offers no such functionality, nor does AT&T TV.
The “add-on package” language suggests you’ll have to pay more than the standard $65 monthly subscription to access these features. YouTube TV raised its base subscription to that last June. But the company still advertises that, even as the cost increases, YouTube TV still doesn’t come with any hidden fees and offers unlimited cloud DVR space. The service has over 3 million customers.
