How to change location on YouTube TV (YouTube TV home area workaround)

Although YouTube TV offers a convenient alternative to cable, it still imposes certain location-based restrictions. When you travel outside your home area, the service doesn’t just block content – it actually switches your location within its system.

This means your local broadcast channels, like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, will change to those available in your current city. The same applies to regional sports networks and local news programming, which are replaced by content from the area you’re visiting. National networks such as CNN, ESPN, or FX remain unaffected. So, if your home area is in California and you try to watch from New York, you’ll see New York’s local channels instead.

Fortunately, you can still access your home area channels by virtually changing your location using a VPN or by adjusting your YouTube TV location settings.

How to change YouTube TV location with a VPN

To change your YouTube TV location, I recommend using a VPN. In short, it will reroute your connection through another region and change your IP address, making YouTube TV believe you’re in your home area. Here’s how to do that:

1. Subscribe to a reliable VPN with multiple US servers; I recommend NordVPN, now 75% OFF
2. Install the VPN app on your preferred viewing device
3. Connect to a US server in your home state
4. Open YouTube TV and enjoy your usual channels while traveling

Watch YouTube TV anywhere with NordVPN

YouTube TV home area workaround (access your home area while traveling)

YouTube TV recognizes your ZIP code as your home area. It collects this information when you create your account and input your home address for service verification. This is important for YouTube TV because it only provides access to local channels, regional sports channels, and local news channels based on location.

How a VPN works as a YouTube TV home area workaroundn

A VPN routes your connection through a remote server and gives you a different IP address, which is what streaming services use to detect your location. By choosing a server in your YouTube TV home area, you can make the service treat you as if you’re watching from home, even when you’re on the road or temporarily outside the United States. This helps you keep access to your home area local channels, including local news and regional sports, instead of having them replaced by channels from wherever you’re currently staying.

This workaround is especially useful for:

• Travelers who want to keep watching their home-local channels while on vacation or business trips.
• Users living abroad who still subscribe to YouTube TV and want access to US-based programming.
• People who split time between different states and prefer to keep one consistent home area lineup.

How to use a VPN to access your YouTube TV home area while traveling

Here’s what you need to do to access your YouTube TV home area with a VPN:

1. Choose a reliable VPN that works with YouTube TV – I recommend NordVPN, now 75% OFF
2. Install the VPN app on your device
3. Connect to a server in your home area or home state (or a US server if you’re abroad)
4. Open YouTube TV and sign in to your account
5. Start watching your usual local channels and content

Tip: For the best results, I recommend opening YouTube TV on a browser or mobile device, as smart TVs and streaming devices may rely more heavily on GPS or Wi-Fi location data.

Watch YouTube TV with NordVPN

How to change your home area on a computer or Android

Here’s what you need to do to change your YouTube TV’s home area on a computer or an Android device:

1. Open YouTube TV and sign in to your account
2. Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner and go to Location
3. In the Home Area section, choose Update Home Area
4. Update your address and click Save

   

Note: YouTube TV will not allow you to change your home area if you have already done so twice in the last 12 months or if you aren’t currently located in your new home area.

How to change your home area on an iOS device (iPhone or iPad)

To change the home area in your YouTube TV account on an iOS device, you need to:

1. Log in to your YouTube TV account on your device's browser
2. Select your profile picture and tap Home Area
3. Click Update in the Home Area section
4. Update your address and click Done

   

Note: YouTube TV will not allow you to change your home area if you have already done so twice in the last 12 months or if you aren’t currently located in your new home area.

How to update the current playback area

The playback area shows where you’re currently watching YouTube TV, while the home area shows your set living location. You can easily change the current playback area in your YouTube TV profile on a smart TV, mobile device, or even a browser. Crucially, you can update your current playback area as many times as you want, but you must be in the location you're specifying.

Here’s how to update YouTube TV’s current playback area on mobile devices and web browsers:

1. Launch YouTube TV on your device
2. Click on your profile picture and head to Location
3. Press Update near the Current playback area
4. If YouTube TV is not able to correctly identify your location, you’ll need to verify it by allowing the website to access your device’s location

If you’re using a smart TV, you’ll have to take these steps:

1. Open the YouTube TV app
2. Click on your profile picture and choose Location
3. Click Update in the Current playback area section
4. Visit tv.youtube.com/verify on your mobile phone and allow YouTube TV to access your device’s location

Are there location restrictions on YouTube TV?

Yes, YouTube TV isn’t free from some of cable TV’s well-known geographical limitations. For example, as the screenshot below confirms, YouTube TV is only available in the US.

You can only view channels broadcast in your local area, meaning you don’t get any extra content by default. Instead, you have to purchase various add-ons if you want to, for example, watch out-of-market NFL games. There are also add-ons for other entertainment-focused channels, such as HBO Max and Paramount+.

Overall, YouTube TV is almost as restrictive as traditional cable TV, but you can unlock more content through add-ons or by changing your location with a VPN.

Other ways to change YouTube TV location

You might be tempted to try other ways of changing your YouTube TV location. After all, high-quality YouTube TV VPNs are paid, and there’s no harm in testing some free alternatives. Together with the Cybernews team, I did some in-house tests so you wouldn’t have to, and here are the results.

Ultimately, premium VPN service alternatives like proxies and free VPNs were ineffective at changing YouTube TV’s location. They lack the necessary technical capabilities and IP address variety to trick YouTube TV adequately. Furthermore, they provide ultra-slow speeds, which lead to low-quality and laggy video. Plus, I should point out that sometimes even paid VPNs don’t always work with YouTube TV.

Conclusion

Changing your YouTube TV location is an excellent way to get the most out of this streaming service. However, the platform does its best to ensure users can’t easily bypass its geographical restrictions and home area limitations. At best, you can change your home location twice a year, but that’s not necessarily suitable for everyone.

As such, I recommend using a VPN. It can reroute your entire web traffic and change your IP address to alter your YouTube TV location, thus unlocking geo-restricted channels while traveling anywhere in the US or abroad. NordVPN delivered the best results during my tests, but you can also consider Surfshark if you want something more affordable.

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