Why Doesn’t YouTube TV Offer Local Channels?
Reading Time: 3 minutes TL;DR Summary: YouTube TV and other providers struggle to offer local channels due to feed issues, but you can access them with an over-the-air antenna or through CUE Broadcast, a disruptive service with unique features and positive reviews. Cable companies are facing challenges, making it a good time to switch to innovative options like CUE Broadcast, which also offers referral benefits and affiliate opportunities. Be cautious of potentially illegal TV boxes and consider the long-term reliability and convenience of your TV setup.
The reason YouTube TV and other providers don’t provide local channels is because it’s difficult. They depend on each local station/channel to provide the feed to them. Those feeds often go down, and when they do, someone has to call each channel and ask them to restart the feed or get them back up. That’s a huge pain because the feed is so inconvenient.
Then How Do You Get Local Channels?
You can get them with an over-the-air antenna. There are a lot of good HDTV powered antennas that do a good job. I’ve been doing this for years. I pay for Tivo just to get the guide and the recording, but I have an over-the-air antenna as the input. I actually use the cable TV plugs in my house for this. I plug an antenna into one of them, and then the rest of the outlets just need to plug into the cable jack.
The other way to get local TV channels is with CUE Broadcast. What they’re doing is pretty special. They’ll be setting up their own network to catch these local channels so they have complete control over those feeds – instead of relying on each channel to provide it. This is the best solution.
Have You Heard of CUE Broadcast Yet?
They’re a fairly recent player who is disrupting the industry. Here’s what else CUE Broadcast provides:
- A great, new channel guide and platform coming out on 11/4/25.
- Stream 1,300+ channels on up to 5 devices.
- No contracts
- DVR (coming 11/4/25)
- Pause and rewind live TV (coming 11/4/25)
- Seamless streaming – no buffering… at all (coming 11/4/25)
- TimeWarp – Start a show over from the start
- Get it for free if you refer 3 people.
Check out the reviews for CUE Broadcast on TrustPilot to see what people are saying. Compare their rating to other cable companies and you’ll see they are up there at the top, by far.
Cable Companies Are Going Out of Business
They can’t hack it with all the streaming services out there. They lost the war. It’s time to get out if you’re still on Charter/Spectrum Xfinity and others. As that happens, their service will suffer. Customer service will get worse, too. It’s time to ditch cable and get on board with the next up-and-comer that has the most steam and power than all the rest.
Psst! I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but these cable companies going out of business are planning to white-label CUE Broadcast as their own. So, join CUE directly so you can refer 3 people and get it for free. Nobody else is offering that.
I Actually Make Money With CUE
I’m an affiliate, so I’m making money every month with it. What cable company will ever do that? Nobody.
What About Those Boxes You Can Buy With Free TV?
That’s probably illegal. They can give away TV for free, but they’re not allowed to sell it, and they’re boarder line selling it. The box is legal, but the programming is your responsibility, legally if you read the fine print. Do you want to take that chance? That kind of thing might not last. Don’t risk it.
And you need one box per TV, remember. What happens when that cheap thing dies, then what do you do?
What About Freebie TV?
Oh, you like extra ads. That’s so nice. I don’t.
