YouTube TV Review: Even at This Price, Still the Best Channel Selection You'll Find

8.8 / 10 Score Cnet Score CNET provides expert, unbiased reviews of products and services. When we assign a score, we use a scale of 1-10. Each product we score is evaluated by criteria specific to its category with most assessing pricing, quality, features and performance. Read more on: How we test YouTube TV $83 at YouTube Pros More popular channels than any competitor

Superb cloud DVR

Excellent on-screen interface and handy search bar Cons $10 upgrade doesn't include much 4K content

Editor's note: Although competition among cord-free live TV streaming platforms has gotten stiffer during the past year due to pricing, mergers, channel lineups and carriage disputes, YouTube TV remains a front-runner as a premium service. We like its interface, reliability and its channel roster compared to its rivals, which is why we're giving it a CNET Editors' Choice award in 2026.

YouTube TV has solidified its reputation as one of the best live TV streaming services available. The Google-owned platform features an extensive array of channels and is known for its easy-to-navigate user experience. These are important details to highlight, given that the streamer has steadily increased its price over the years. It now costs $83 a month, more than twice its original price. It may feel like the overall value of the service isn't as clear-cut as it once was, but its price is lower than its closest rival, Hulu Plus Live TV.

YouTube TV's main strength for cord-cutters is its sheer number of channels. It now offers 78 of the top 100 networks, the most of any streaming service, a count that includes numerous cable staples plus all four local networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- and local PBS stations nationwide.

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Beyond channels, YouTube TV is easy to use: It's slick and speedy on a variety of TVs and mobile devices. Its cloud DVR is also one of the best, with unlimited storage and pretty much all the capabilities of a hardware DVR. The service also offers a 4K streaming upgrade -- for an additional $10 monthly -- which, importantly, includes unlimited simultaneous streams and downloadable DVR recordings.

The big snag is the price, and if you're a cord-cutter, the trimmed-down Sling TV Blue at $46 a month is the best way to save money. At the other end of the spectrum, the $90 Hulu Plus Live TV base plan offers a similar mix of channels, but the addition of the modified Disney Bundle that gives you access to on-demand Hulu, ESPN Plus and Disney Plus, brings some extra value. If you want to stick with a familiar cable TV experience, the myriad channels and unlimited DVR offered by YouTube TV make the $83 price tag well worth it. It's still a good deal for what you're getting.