Have you ever thought of giving YouTube TV a try? You’re in luck because the streaming service offers a free trial that will give you enough time to see whether it’s worth the investment. YouTube TV may not be the cheapest streaming option in the market coming in at $64.99 per month, so a free trial gives you the perfect opportunity to find out whether you really need the service.
And if you manage to sign up at the right time, you might even get lucky enough to catch a special deal. For instance, YouTube TV occasionally runs offers for extra-long trial periods. Read on for more information about YouTube TV free trials and deals.
What is YouTube TV?
YouTube TV is a live TV streaming service that gives you access to breaking news, local sports, and shows from 70+ channels. It lets you stream live and on-demand programming from leading networks like ABC, AMC, CNN, Disney Channel, Food Network, FOX Sports, HGTV, MSNBC, PBS, and TNT.
Besides these, YouTube TV comes with a bunch of premium add-ons such as AMC Premiere, CuriosityStream, EPIX, Showtime, Shudder, and STARZ. This gives you access to popular on-demand content and exclusive shows like Creepshow, Doctor Who, Genius by Stephen Hawking, Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories, Outlander, Pennyworth, and The Walking Dead.
Some of the top highlights of YouTube TV include 6 accounts per household, 3 simultaneous streams, and unlimited cloud DVR storage for 9 months.
How do I sign up for a YouTube TV free trial?
The process of signing up for a YouTube TV free trial is pretty straightforward. To sign up through your desktop or mobile browser, head over to the YouTube TV homepage and click on the Try It Free button. Choose the Google account you want to use and submit your zip code.
Next, click on Start Free Trial at the prompt. You can go through the full list of all the networks included in your area after this. Then click on Next to add any premium networks to your package. These networks will also be a part of the free trial, but the length may vary for some add-ons. For instance, you only get 3 days of free trial for STARZ.
Once you’ve chosen all the premium add-ons you want to try out, click on Next, or if you have a promo code, you can also choose to redeem it at this point. After this, you’ll get the option to review your purchase before you complete it. Then select your payment method. You can either use a credit or debit card or a PayPal account for this.
Enter your payment details then click on Start Trial, and that’s it. Note that although YouTube TV will charge a small fee to your chosen payment method to verify it, it will reverse the transaction after verification.
To sign up through the YouTube TV app, download it on your mobile or other supported devices. Then tap the button to start your free trial and follow the same process as before.
What types of free trials does YouTube TV typically offer?
Like with several of its competitors such as Philo and Hulu + Live TV, the standard YouTube TV free trial lasts for seven days. If this doesn’t seem like enough time to get a feel of its channel offerings, you’ll be happy to know that the service regularly comes up with limited period offers where you can get lengthier free trials.
In January, for example, you could get an extended YouTube TV free trial length of two weeks. Although that offer has expired, the good news is that the service regularly comes up with similar offers every few months. Some of these offers don’t mark any specific event, but YouTube TV also runs special promos for certain holidays and occasions like Cyber Week.
So you just need to wait for a bit and watch out until the next YouTube TV promo offer comes along. In addition, YouTube TV has also partnered with Verizon Wireless to provide an even better deal. Currently, you can get a free month of YouTube TV with your Verizon mobile subscription or your 5G Home Internet service.
Current 2020 YouTube TV free trials
Regardless of whether you sign up with the browser or the YouTube TV app, you get a standard seven-day free trial. At the time of writing this post, there aren’t any special offers for downloading the app or using it to sign up for a free trial. But YouTube TV is currently offering an extended 14-day free trial, which will expire in mid-May. So hurry up and grab that offer while it’s available.
If you sign up through Verizon, you get an entire month of YouTube TV for free along with your mobile or 5G Home Internet service. Verizon hasn’t specified an expiration date for this YouTube TV deal, but you need to activate the offer within 90 days after ordering the service. And note that you can only get this deal if you’re a first-time YouTube TV subscriber.
What should I do after my YouTube TV trial expires?
If you like what you see, you can continue with the service after the free trial ends by paying a monthly fee of $49.99. This gives you access to live and on-demand content from over 70 channels. You can even add premium channels like EPIX, Showtime, and STARZ to your package for an extra fee.
And you can create up to 6 accounts if you ever want to share it with your family members or roommates. The same membership will let you stream simultaneously from up to 3 devices, so you won’t have to fight over what to watch.
If, however, you find the service lacking, you have the option to cancel your membership before the end of your free trial. For this, sign in to your YouTube TV account, then go to Settings and select Membership. Click Pause or Cancel Membership then choose Cancel Membership.
If you’re not keen on a full-blown cancellation, you can also choose to pause your membership for up to 6 months. This lets you take a break without losing your settings and recordings, so you might want to go for this option if you plan on restarting your membership later on.
In the meantime, test out the offerings on other live TV streaming services to see which one’s best for you. Services like Hulu + Live TV and Philo also offer seven-day free trials. But Sling TV only offers a free trial if you sign up through the app. Otherwise, it gives you a $10 discount on your first month.
The final cut
With a robust offering of live and on-demand programming as well as perks like unlimited DVR storage, YouTube TV is definitely worth a try. Even if you feel like $64.99/mo. is too steep, the free trial will give you a sense of whether it’s really worth that much to you. So make sure you sign up and get a feel of its offering.