YouTube TV is great but recently, users have found enough reasons to stop paying for it. The recent price hikes are the most prominent reason for people wanting to cancel YouTube TV membership. And, some users are looking to ‘pause their membership’ until they release more flexible plans. If you are one of them, this post is written especially for you.
Here, I will guide you on how to cancel YouTube TV membership on your PC or smartphone. Additionally, I will also explain how to pause your membership if you don’t want to cut the ties permanently.
Why Are People Looking to Cancel YouTube TV Membership?
When YouTube TV was launched, it was seen as a live TV streaming service offering tough competition to the traditional cable services and other streaming services. The main reason for this was that it offered incredible value for the price. Its membership was only $35/month in the beginning. Then, the price started escalating as YouTube TV started adding more channels to its catalog.
Now, YouTube TV subscription costs a whopping amount of $65/month. It is still cheaper than a lot of alternatives and the traditional methods but the value it provided earlier is lost. That’s why more and more people are looking to cancel their YouTube TV membership. Another reason is that other streaming services such as Disney+, Hulu, etc are providing better and more flexible plans.
Despite the reason, I’ll help you to cancel your YouTube TV membership, or pause it. The decision is yours.
How to Cancel YouTube TV Membership?
If you have decided that you don’t want to continue paying for your YouTube TV membership, you can cancel it anytime. You can also ‘pause’ it if you don’t want to stop using their services permanently. We’ll talk about it next. For now, I’m going to guide you with canceling the membership. You can do that by using your PC as well as on your smartphone. Methods for both are mentioned below.
On PC
Follow these steps if you want to cancel your YouTube TV membership on your computer:
Step-1: Open a browser, preferably Chrome, and visit tv.youtube.com.
Step-2: Now click on your profile icon from the top right corner, and click on Settings. Next, click on Membership.
Alternatively, you can directly visit tv.youtube.com/settings/subscriptions in the browser.
Step-3: Now click on ‘Pause or cancel membership.’
Step-4: Next, click on ‘Cancel Membership’ present in the bottom left corner.
Step-5: Next, you have to choose a reason for canceling. You can choose any reason that suits you. I’d recommend opting ‘cost’ as maybe it’ll make them think that they should reduce it. After selecting a reason, click on ‘Continue Canceling.’
Step-6: The next screen will remind you that you will lose your YouTube TV services after canceling. Just click on ‘Cancel Membership.’
That’s it. You have successfully canceled your YouTube TV membership. You will still have access to YouTube TV until the end of your payment period. They will not remove your access to the service immediately. But, if you have canceled during a ‘free trial,’ you’ll immediately lose access to the services, including any add-ons.
On Smartphone (Android/iOS)
You can also cancel your YouTube TV membership through your smartphone. Android users can use the YouTube TV Android app to that. But, iOS users can’t do that through the iPhone app as the feature is not yet available on the iOS app. They have to open Safari and visit tv.youtube.com/settings/subscriptions in it to cancel their subscription. The steps will be similar as above.
To cancel YouTube TV subscription on the Android app, follow these steps:
Step-1: Open the YouTube TV app on your Android smartphone. Tap on your profile icon present in the top-right corner of the screen.
Step-2: From the menu that opened, tap on Settings.
Step-3: Next, tap on Membership.
Step-4: Next, tap on ‘Pause or Cancel Membership‘ present under ‘YouTube TV’ membership plan.
Step-5: If you are sure with your decision, tap on ‘Cancel’ on the next screen.
Step-6: Then, you have to choose a reason for canceling. Opt for any reason that suits you. I’d recommend choosing the ‘cost’ option here. Once done, tap on ‘Continue Canceling.’
Step-7: Finally, tap on ‘Cancel Membership’ to end your YouTube TV membership.
That’s it. You have now successfully ended your YouTube TV subscription. You can also do it by visiting their website on a browser on your smartphone. But, doing it through the app seems simpler to me.
What Does it Mean to Pause YouTube TV Membership?
If you don’t want to permanently stop using YouTube TV services, then you can ‘pause’ your membership instead of canceling it. Pausing will save your library recordings and you can also resume at any time you choose. And, you will not be charged for the period you choose for the ‘pause.‘ It is a win-win situation.
Also, if you are going for a month-long vacation or want for Youtube to release more flexible plans, I’d recommend pausing your membership instead of canceling it. A pause can be of up to 4 weeks to 6 months. Earlier, they allowed to pause membership for up to 2 years, but now you can pause it for a maximum of 6 months.
Follow these steps to Pause YouTube TV Membership
You can pause your YouTube TV membership via PC, mobile, or the Android app. The steps are similar to the above methods but you have to choose ‘Pause’ at the steps where you selected ‘Cancel.’ If you didn’t read them above, here are the exact steps:
Step-1: Open a browser on your PC or mobile and visit tv.youtube.com/settings/subscriptions. Here, click on ‘Pause or Cancel Membership.’
Step-2: Now move the slider present under ‘Pause for’ to choose the ‘pause duration.’ Whatever duration you select here, you won’t be charged for YouTube TV services. Once done, click on ‘Pause.’
Step-3: Once you choose to ‘Pause,’ your screen will look like this. It’ll remind you the number of days after which the services will be paused and you won’t be able to access or watch anything on YouTube TV. The ‘pause’ will become active at the end of your current billing cycle.
That’s it. You have now paused your YouTube TV membership. Remember that when the ‘Pause period’ ends, you will automatically be charged at the normal monthly price and that date will be your new billing date.
Final Take
YouTube TV is a good alternative to the traditional cable TV services. However, the recent price spike has made it lose value to a lot of users. So, they are looking to cancel their subscriptions. This is how you can cancel YouTube TV membership. A smarter way is to pause the membership as they may release more flexible plans soon. They have even announced it on Twitter.
That’s all for this post. I hope you find it helpful. If you have any queries or suggestions, feel free to use the comment box.
