The IT Nerd

You might remember that Google and Roku were in a dispute over the YouTube TV channel that Roku has characterized as an anti-trust dispute. Then Roku pulled the YouTube TV app from Roku’s their store. To get around this, it appears that Google has added a new “Go to YouTube TV” option within the primary YouTube app on Roku which remains available to download on the streaming platform. In short, Google has put the YouTube TV channel into the YouTube channel. And by extension, they’ve now basically dared Roku to pull the main YouTube channel. The Verge has additional details:

In essence, Google has basically stuffed the YouTube TV app into YouTube itself, a solution that seems unlikely to make Roku very happy. 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.

But 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.

Roku had this to say:

Google’s actions are the clear conduct of an unchecked monopolist bent on crushing fair competition and harming consumer choice. 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. Roku has not asked for one additional dollar in financial value from YouTubeTV. We have simply asked Google to stop their anticompetitive behavior of manipulating user search results to their unique financial benefit and to stop demanding access to sensitive data that no other partner on our platform receives today. In response, Google has continued its practice of blatantly leveraging its YouTube monopoly to force an independent company into an agreement that is both bad for consumers and bad for fair competition.

It now seems that this dispute has gone nuclear. And I’ll be watching for the mushroom clouds.

This entry was posted on May 7, 2021 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Google, Roku. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.