On Friday morning, Roku pulled YouTube TV from its channel store. Its expulsion came after Roku’s distribution agreement for the application expired and negotiations among it and Google self-destructed with no new deal in sight.
YouTube TV And Roku Dispute
The well known streaming hardware maker cautioned customers of this result prior in the week, guaranteeing that Google was demanding unrealistic terms to renew YouTube TV’s slot on the platform. Those asks, as indicated by Roku, included admittance to sensitive customer data and an apparent commitment from Roku to help AV1 decoding in future products. That requires additional hardware that Roku keeps up could build the expense of its devices. Roku likewise says that Google is attempting to have changes made to Roku’s search feature, an affirmation that Google has emphatically denied.
The conflict of words has immediately gotten extraordinary, with Roku noticing the antitrust investigations that Google right now faces and framing this standoff as another illustration of the company using its “monopoly position.” On the opposite side, Google has highlighted Roku’s new disagreements with HBO Max, Peacock, and others as an unmistakable, developing pattern of Roku manhandling its huge market share and powerful presence in the living room. “Roku ended our deal in dishonesty in the midst of our negotiation,” the company said on its YouTube TV blog. “Tragically, Roku has regularly occupied with this strategy with other streaming providers.”
The to and fro is suggestive of the carriage questions that consistently occur between cable companies and TV network owners. Yet, this is a substantially more 2021 version, and Roku is getting down to business with a tech giant that doesn’t appear to be in any rush to withdraw.