YouTube TV adds option to pause customer subscriptions

YouTube TV has a new option for customers who want to keep the service, but not watch it for awhile. As with Hulu, Netflix, and some other services, Google's livestreaming television option now enables users to temporarily suspend their membership while retaining the account. The pausing feature allows users to stop paying for the account (and lose access during that time) for up to six months.

Many services give customers two options: keep paying or lose the account. Some, such as Hulu, allow the user to instead pause their service for a certain period of time. This is useful for those having budget issues, though it is more commonly used during periods of time when the users won't be able to watch content.

That could include the summer when nothing interesting is on television, during a vacation, while overseas, and similar. The new option appeared on Google's support site for YouTube TV, where it explains that users can either cancel or pause their membership.

When cancelling the service, YouTube TV users still have access until the end of their billing period; the DVR content is saved for 21 days. All preferences are saved for when/if the user signs back up in the future. The benefit of pausing the service is being able to easily pick up where you left off.