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Verizon has now deepened its relationship with YouTube TV.
The carrier made the announcement today confirming it plans to resell YouTube TV to all of its customers.
This is not technically the first time Verizon has made an announcement like this as YouTube TV had already been confirmed as one of the “partners” Verizon turned to in a bid to help with its video push within the 5G home sector.
The difference here seems to be an expansion of that partnership which sees the ability to access YouTube TV through Verizon moving beyond 5G home customers.
In other words, Verizon wireless, Fios and 5G customers are all now expecting to have the option to subscribe to YouTube TV through their Verizon account.
At present, there’s been no additional information released on the pricing and therefore beyond the convenience element it remains to be seen if it is more beneficial to subscribe to YouTube TV in this way.
YouTube TV already allows consumers to easily subscribe to the service on a no-contract basis through their Google account. Having the option to do so through Verizon might not come with any additional benefits if the price is not reduced via a bundling of the services.
YouTube TV recently announced it was increasing the monthly cost from $40 per month to $50 following similar price rises from DIRECTV NOW and Hulu with Live TV. The price rise is already in effect for new customers and is currently in the process of going live for existing customers based on their billing cycle.
The news today of the deepening relationship between Verizon and YouTube TV is symptomatic of the increased change in consumer habits which has seen more people moving from linear video solutions to over-the-top alternatives.
Verizon largely confirmed as much during a separate announcement for its first quarter results. The sentiment was made to directly help explain why Verizon had seen a drop of 53,000 Fios video connections during the quarter.
Unlike AT&T who can draw on the power of its DIRECTV NOW service (and HBO), or T-Mobile who is in the process or readying its own over-the-top video service, Verizon no longer seems to have owned-video solution ambitions.
Therefore, Verizon has needed to partner with outside help to ensure it can offer a new-age package to its customers in the form they now expect. Although again, unless the price of combining the two services comes down it remains unclear if Verizon with YouTube TV will be as competitively priced as the all-in options from the other U.S. carriers.
One of the advantages of opting for YouTube TV is the strength in its features. Ever since launch YouTube has positioned its TV service as a highly-accessible option. This has not only included a greater emphasis on sports in general, but also on family accounts and recording support.
For example, YouTube TV currently offers single account holders the option to add five additional member accounts (six in total) and each account gets access to its own unlimited cloud DVR.
These additional benefits are included with YouTube TV at no additional cost.