Let us stipulate a few things: When it comes to video, higher resolution is better. Sure, there are diminishing returns — I wouldn’t go out and buy an 8K television just yet. But going from 720p to 1080p is a huge leap in quality. Maybe a little less so when you go from 1080p to 4K, but that’s also very much going to depend on your circumstances — television size, what room you’re in, etc.
Much of 4K resolution being necessary was due to Fox itself. For whatever reason, its live sports too often are sourced at a lower frame rate. If you’ve ever flipped between Fox and CBS NFL games on a Sunday, you know exactly what that means. Combine the lower frame rate with a lower resolution, and live sports become practically unwatchable. I had to abandon a game at my parents’ house because the lower-res broadcast via their cable provider was that unwatchable. Once you’ve seen a game in 4K, you’re never going back.
YouTube TV made watching matches in 4K relatively easy, even if the channel scheme is a bit of a mess. A channel that’s in 4K — whether it’s Fox or ESPN or NBC — is a completely separate channel. That means you’ll have to manually tune to it if you’re used to flipping through your live guide. That’s not ideal.
YouTube TV did it right, mostly, but at a fairly steep cost. The4K Plus plancosts an extra $20 a month, which takes your subscription to a minimum of $85 a month, before taxes and any other add-ons. Yes, you get more than just live sports in 4K with that package — there’s also a bunch of on-demand content, and the ability to watch on as many devices as you want at home. But that’s still pretty steep, especially when you consider that FuboTV (which is more expensive out of the gate) throws in 4K for free, and you can just use the Fox Sports app to stream in 4K anyway, with whatever other provider you may have.
So kudos to YouTube TV for making the World Cup watchable. And cheers to Super Bowl LVII, which is coming up in February on Fox.
But in the meantime, it might be time to save a little cash.
