New YouTube TV store tab shows off subscription options on smart TVs

Total0

Share via

YouTube TV is already fairly pricey, as cable-cutting services go. But if you want even more content on top of its standard live TV channels and on-demand video, you can add on more packages (just like old-fashioned cable TV, for better or worse). An interface tweak is making it easier to find these options on television, without having to search for them on a phone app or the web.

First spotted by 9to5Google, the new store tab is appearing on YouTube TV apps for various platforms, as well as Android TV. (The photo above is from the Xbox app.) If you have the updated UI, you’ll see it in the icons on top of the interface, on the upper-right corner. The “Store” icon (a TV with a dollar sign inside of it) is to the left of the search button.

On the “Add to Your Lineup” menu, you can see all of the available add-on subscriptions from HBO, Showtime, Starz, AMC, et cetera. Helpfully, the additional cost per month is shown in their individual tiles—you can see just how pricey your subscription will become in real time. One selected, the tool opens a web page and insists upon a Google confirmation login, which will hopefully keep kiddos from adding unwanted channels to their parents’ accounts.

Channels added to your account will automatically bump up your monthly subscription cost, but like YouTube TV itself, can be cancelled anytime. Before this tweak, it was necessary to use the YouTube TV app or the web to add these channels to your lineup. The “New and Noteworthy” section is only a bit of advertising, highlighting shows and sporting events from the premium channels.

The additional interface option seems to be rolling out slowly. Only one of our team members with a YouTube TV subscription spotted it on their TV.