The bundling announcement by YouTube highlights the kind of predatory business practices used by Google that Congress, Attorney Generals and regulatory bodies around the world are investigating. Google’s actions are the clear conduct of an unchecked monopolist bent on crushing fair competition and harming consumer choice.
Here’s Roku’s full statement, which suggests the company won’t be goaded into removing the main YouTube app: On Friday afternoon, Roku responded to Google’s latest move by calling the company “an unchecked monopolist.” Roku also criticized Google’s decision to bundle the services together as an example of its “predatory business practices.”
Google says it’s “still working to come to an agreement with Roku to ensure continued access to YouTube TV for our mutual customers,” and it notes the YouTube TV app remains usable for those who already have it installed.īut in the event that things totally fall apart, Google says it’s “in discussions with other partners to secure free streaming devices in case YouTube TV members face any access issues on Roku.” A Google spokesperson told The Verge that this workaround is only for consumption of YouTube TV customers cannot sign up for new subscriptions through the YouTube app at this time. In essence, Google has basically stuffed the YouTube TV app into YouTube itself, a solution that seems unlikely to make Roku very happy. This option is coming to Roku devices first - where it’s currently most needed - but will also come to YouTube on other platforms as well. When they select that, they’ll then be switched over to the standard YouTube TV user experience. YouTube users will start seeing a “Go to YouTube TV” option in the main YouTube app over the next few days.
But Google has come up with something of a workaround in the meantime: it’s going to let people access YouTube TV directly from the main YouTube app. After months of stalled negotiations, Google said in late October that it would pull the YouTube app on December 9th if a deal hadn’t been reached.A week after their broken-down negotiations spilled into the public, Google and Roku still haven’t been able to reach a deal to renew YouTube TV’s presence on the huge streaming platform. YouTube TV was pulled by Roku from its channel store in April as tensions between the two parties escalated. Roku described the deal as a “multi-year extension” for YouTube and YouTube TV. Google confirmed the deal to The Verge and said both apps will be available through the Roku store. “This agreement represents a positive development for our shared customers, making both YouTube and YouTube TV available for all streamers on the Roku platform,” Dallas Lawrence, a Roku spokesperson, wrote in an email to The Verge.
If they hadn’t reached an agreement by tomorrow, Google planned to pull the YouTube app from Roku - a loss for basically everyone involved, but especially Roku users who would have no longer been able to download a key video service. The two had been at odds over a contract extension, sparring over what Roku described as onerous demands by Google for more data and more prominent placement on its devices. Roku has reached a deal with Google to continue distributing the YouTube and YouTube TV apps on its platform.