Jefferson Graham

USA TODAY

PLAYA VISTA, Calif. — YouTube, the world's most popular video network, wants to convince its young viewers to go beyond the free late-night clips and outtakes from prime-time shows to start paying $35 a month for a live TV service with significant holes in its programming guide.

The new YouTube TV service, previewed here Tuesday, is set to debut in a few months (execs were vague on exact timing) with an offering of 40 channels. Yes, you can get all the prime-time fare from CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and the CW, as well as some popular cable channels, like Bravo, E, USA, MSNBC, Fox News, Disney Channel, FX and local broadcast stations.

But the list of no-shows is huge. AMC, home to cable's most viewed show, The Walking Dead, as well as HBO, MTV, BH1, BET, Comedy Central, CNN, Discovery, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, TBS, TNT, PBS and the Food Network are not part of the so-called "skinny bundle."

And unlike Hulu, which offers network shows ad-free from NBC, ABC and Fox for $11.99 monthly, YouTube TV expects you to sit through all the commercials, while paying $35 monthly.

YouTube is pitching the service as "half the cost" of cable, but clearly, YouTube has its biggest challenge yet. Getting young folks to commit to a service that will set them back over $400 yearly won't be easy. Do they really care about broadcast and cable TV anyway?

The cutting-the-cord movement built steam because people just didn't want to pay for TV anymore. So much of it, even if you sometimes have to jump through hoops to get it, is free online.

What YouTube does have going for it is the power of its search and recommendations. As a Google unit, for my money, YouTube knows my interests better than any other service out there, trumping yes, Netflix and Amazon. (I realize for privacy advocates, this is not a good thing, but I'm OK with it.)

In a demo Tuesday, YouTube showed a smartphone screen that was similar to the YouTube we know now—with thumbnails of suggested viewings at the top, but the difference was, these were all full TV shows. Since the event was midday, the app showed programs like talk shows and soaps because they were airing then.

Open up the offering of a show you like, and similar to Hulu and CBS All-Access, they are presented with the most current episode first, followed by recent ones.

But to keep you on top of your favorites, you get to "record" shows with a YouTube cloud DVR that will capture the episode for you, and keep it on hand for nine months. Hopefully this will be one way to skip through the commercials in the live streams.

Don't look for YouTube TV on Apple TV or Roku. YouTube says it's launching via the Google Chromecast service, which lets you "cast" the programming to the TV from your phone, via a $35 Google Chromecast dongle.

In 2015, YouTube introduced YouTube Red, a premium subscription offering original movies and series featuring YouTube stars, in an ad-free environment. YouTube has yet to reveal subscriber numbers for Red, though analysts peg it at around 1 million subscribers. Red members watch via their native YouTube app, which eliminates the ads for paying subscribers.

But YouTube TV is its own, free-standing app. A Red subscription, for instance, won't eliminate the ads on TV. (Just to really confuse you, Red's original productions will be viewable for free to YouTube TV subscribers.)

YouTube said this week that folks around the world watch 1 billion hours of videos every day on its network. Why not? Everything is free, programmed really well and just works.

The new pay service carries a hefty price tag, a bundle of channels that misses many of the top cable TV choices, and makes you watch ads on live TV. And it's targeted to folks who refuse to pay for TV.

Good luck, YouTube. You'll need it.

Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham on Twitter @jeffersongraham.