News of an ongoing spat between Google and Roku has aired which may result in the YouTube app being pulled from Roku devices, in a situation that brings back memories of when the app was removed from Amazon Fire TV devices. The discord between the two companies has come about during negotiations where Roku is saying that Google has made “predatory, anti-competitive, and discriminatory”.
According to Axios, Roku has emailed its users warning that the YouTube app may have to be removed from Roku devices due to Google demanding that it favor YouTube services in the following ways:
- Create a dedicated search results row for YouTube within the Roku smart TV interface and giving YouTube search results a more prominent placement.
- Block search results from other streaming content providers while users are using the YouTube app on Roku’s system.
- Favor YouTube music results from voice commands made on the Roku remote while the YouTube app is open, even if the user’s music preference is set to default to another music app, like Pandora.
- Require Roku to use certain chipsets or memory cards that would force Roku to increase the price of its hardware product, which competes directly with Google’s Chromecast.
The timing of Roku’s stance won’t go unnoticed, especially with the Justice Department’s antitrust investigations into Google’s dominance in search and advertising.
A spokesperson for YouTube TV has stated the following in response to Roku’s claims:
“Unfortunately, Roku often engages in these types of tactics in their negotiations. We’re disappointed that they chose to make baseless claims while we continue our ongoing negotiations. All of our work with them has been focused on ensuring a high-quality and consistent experience for our viewers. We have made no requests to access user data or interfere with search results. We hope we can resolve this for the sake of our mutual users.”
Until last year, Google wasn’t necessarily a competitor to Roku despite its Chromecast offerings but that changed once the search giant released the incredibly awkward named Chromecast with Google TV streaming device.
This isn’t the first time that Google has had difficulties with its YouTube app, and it won’t be the last, I’m sure. Hopefully, it will resolve the issue with Roku in a timeous manner that won’t impact the consumer. Hopefully.
