YouTube TV

YouTube TV will add 4K streaming, more simultaneous streams for an additional price

Ben Schoon | Feb 17 2021 - 6:18 am PT

As more people cut out traditional cable, Google’s YouTube TV has become the go-to option for streaming live television. This year, the service is set to get even more new features, including the arrival of 4K streaming on YouTube TV.

In a blog post this morning, YouTube confirms a few planned updates for its core products including YouTube itself, Music, and also YouTube TV. One of the biggest takeaways in the post is that, soon, YouTube TV will be adding support for 4K streaming.

While a specific release window isn’t called out, YouTube TV will be debuting a new add-on package in the not-too-distant future that enables three new features. First and foremost, this includes the ability to view YouTube TV streams in 4K quality, of course assuming the broadcaster has the ability to do so. 4K broadcasts are still pretty rare, but they’ll become more popular in the future, especially as major events such as the Super Bowl have attempted 4K broadcasting.

Beyond 4K streaming, this new add-on bundle will also enable offline downloads of recordings on YouTube TV. We first spotted this feature yesterday, as the foundation for the feature is currently live in the YouTube TV app on Android.

Finally, this add-on package will also give families the ability to use YouTube TV on more devices at once. As it stands today, a family can watch the service on up to three devices at the same time, with a fourth addition kicking off one of the previous viewers. It’s probably not very common for households to hit this cap on a regular basis, but having the option of expanding concurrent streams will certainly be welcome.

Right now, it’s unclear how much this add-on package will cost YouTube TV subscribers. The service already starts at $65/month.