Key Takeaways
- To maintain accurate local channels, YouTube TV requires users to check in at home every 90 days.
- If you miss a 90-day check-in, local channels may be updated to reflect your current location while you’re traveling.
- Users can manually update their home location twice a year to avoid channel access issues while traveling.
One of the many benefits is Live TV Streaming Services Like YouTube TV Now you can take your cable plan and all its personalized elements with you on the go, making it easy to watch the shows and movies you’ve saved on your DVR wherever you are.
However, YouTube TV needs to know where you are in order to provide accurate local channels, so you need to make sure you use your account properly to avoid accessing channels that only work when you’re in the right location – so the question becomes: how far from home is too far for YouTube TV?
YouTube TV
- Concurrent Streams
- 3
- Number of Profiles
- 6
- Live TV
- yes
- price
- Starting at $73/month
- Free Trial
- Yes, the length varies
90-day rule
It’s not just for reality TV fiancés.
Szabo Viktor / Unsplash / Pocket-lint
Google recommends using YouTube TV in your home area at least once every three months. For baseball fans, this number actually cuts down to one month, due to particularly strict MLB viewing restrictions in some areas. As long as you check in at home at least once within that three-month period, you’ll be fine watching on your home network.
Now, some of you may be asking yourself, what happens if you don’t check in? The answer is that you end up seeing local channels based on where you are when YouTube TV checks your location. Unless you really want to keep watching local TV networks, not checking in won’t really be disastrous. This is especially true if you want to record local shows on your DVR, because that will be ruined if the channel disappears from your YouTube TV account. And if you’re wondering how it compares to other cable alternatives in terms of duration and results, there are some differences. For example, Hulu + Live TV requires you to check in every 30 days, or your service will be interrupted. If you travel a lot, this is a perk of YouTube TV worth keeping in mind.
It’s worth remembering that this all applies to domestic travel. If you’re traveling internationally, you’re totally out of luck: you can’t use YouTube TV at all. That’s a bummer, but maintaining your cable TV subscription while traveling abroad shouldn’t be too much of an issue to worry about. However, if you find yourself unable to use your YouTube TV subscription for an extended period of time, here are some things you should consider: Pause to save money .
What to do if your location gets updated
Accidents happen, but they are easily remedied.
For example, let’s say you’re traveling and for some reason miss the 90 day check-in period. You’re able to check in 4 days later, but the channel has already updated to your travel location. Fixing this is easy and takes just a few clicks. And you need to be at home.
- Visit the YouTube TV website
- Select and click on your profile picture position.
- Next Home Area Click the box update.
You can follow roughly the same steps on both the Android and iOS versions of the YouTube TV app: Once you’ve changed your home area back to your actual home, you’ll have another 90 days before YouTube TV asks you to update.
You can only manually update your home location twice a year.
Overall, it can get a little tricky, especially for frequent travelers, but in the end, it won’t be much of an issue if you’re not interested in accessing local channels. If your main concern is national networks, you can use YouTube TV while traveling around the country without any worries at all.
