Roku, Google Settle Messy Battle Over YouTube Distribution

Roku and Google have agreed to a multi-year extension for both YouTube and YouTube TV apps to be distributed on Roku. From a report: Roku's deal with Google to distribute YouTube was set to expire this month. Without a deal, YouTube would've been removed from Roku's channel store, creating a big competitive disadvantage, especially during the holiday season. "Roku and Google have agreed to a multi-year extension for both YouTube and YouTube TV," a Roku spokesperson said. "This agreement represents a positive development for our shared customers, making both YouTube and YouTube TV available for all streamers on the Roku platform."

So who caved?

[SirSpanksALot]

Is Roku giving YouTube the special search results treatment, or did YouTube cave and just continue the exiting agreement.

Re:

[Ostracus]

Reminds me of channel battles between cable companies and TV providers. Just updated for the modern age.

Re:So who caved?

[omnichad]

Google didn't cave. They just upped the negotiating tactics a few days ago by threatening to remove Youtube from Roku in addition to Youtube TV. I'm sure this is all sealed up with NDAs, but it doesn't seem like Roku was going to be the bully here.

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[SirSpanksALot]

I guess we'll see - NDA's can't hide it if youtube gets a dedicated shelf on search...

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[JackieBrown]

Not that taking away my $60 a month would have made a difference, but I was paying attention to this and was considering cancelling my Youtube TV subscription if a deal wasn't struck.

I considered canceling my subscription when they started aggressively locking down on regional distances for family (household) members. Then they bumped up the cost for a bunch of channels I didn't want and I think they were going to do it again.

Their all our nothing choice of channels sucks.

On the flip side, their interface is the best I have used and the unlimited DVR was awesome. It was enough for me to start paying for cable again until the above happened.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[Repetiro]

Is Roku giving YouTube the special search results treatment, or did YouTube cave and just continue the exiting agreement.

I saw on https://hawk.live/ [hawk.live] that really some youtube videos was deleted from website. Cause their were used in google serp. What a mess

Fuck you Google

[ThurstonMoore]

Fuck you Google and your shitty Chromecast.

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[misosoup7]

Just curious, why do you hate Chromecast?

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[shanen]

I agree with the sentiments and hope we see some interesting answers.

So I should throw in my specific hate of the day? But it's so hard to pick between (1) the increasingly annoying and intrusive ads on YouTube and (2) the recent growth of Gmail spam to over 300/day. As regards the Bayesian filtering and considering the false positives, I must be losing a number of false negatives, but the Gmail's spam folder has passed 9,000, which is probably close to the equilibrium level. Can't even scan for false posit

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[JackieBrown]

So I should throw in my specific hate of the day? But it's so hard to pick between (1) the increasingly annoying and intrusive ads on YouTube and (2) the recent growth of Gmail spam to over 300/day.

I vote for the increasing number of ads. It adds sting when they decided to start cheating content providers if they crossed any arbitrary lines - going as far as to take back payments.
I broke on that one and give $6 a month (student discount) to have an ad free experience. If any of the alternatives could have come up with a nice app, I would have switched

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[shanen]

If I understand you correctly, you decided to pay the blackmail money to the google. Not my style.

However, in response to the recent increase of ads, I have started sometimes adding comments like "PHUCK YouTube ads" or "Gawdam YouTube ads". I think my message is easier to understand than any of the ads.

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[ThurstonMoore]

It's a piece of shit because you have to send whatever you want to watch form another device.

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[Pascoea]

So your complaint is that it...works like it was designed, marketed, and sold?

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[ThurstonMoore]

My complaint is it's a piece of shit compared to a Roku, so yes my complaint is that it works like it was designed, marketed and sold. Just because something works like it's supposed to doesn't mean it's not a piece of shit.

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[Pascoea]

I'd assume, then, that a Keurig is a piece of shit because it isn't capable of doing something it wasn't designed to do? There are plenty of reasons to hate Keurig, such as it's bullshit DRM, but "It won't cook eggs" isn't one of them. Similarly there are reasons to hate Chromecast, such as the privacy nightmare that is Google, but "it's not a Roku" isn't one of them. "Piece of shit" doesn't seem fair, I think the term you're looking for is "unfit for MY purpose."

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[meijad]

The current Chromecast with Google TV is a stand alone device running a variation of android. But can still accept your devices casting if you want it to.

is youtube worth commercials ?

[cats-paw]

Not to me it's not.
I would expect it probably is to most people.
There's not adblocker app for Roku, right ?

Re:is youtube worth commercials ?

[SirSpanksALot]

/shrug we use YouTube premium - which gives you both video and music with no ads. Considering its barely more than Spotify, and as far is we're concerned does everything we'd need from Spotify + no ads on YouTube it's a no-brainer.

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[spire3661]

Stop feeding the beast.

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[PoopMonkey]

Premium doesn't get rid of commercials on YouTube TV.

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[nwaack]

No, but you can fast forward through them on YouTube TV. Not so much for many of the commercials on YouTube (w/o premium).

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[SirSpanksALot]

So? Youtube and YoutubeTV are not the same product. YoutubeTV is just your cable provider, but over the internet. I cut the cord over a decade ago, the only regular TV I get is over the air (and even that is streaming - I pipe it through an HDHomeRun...)

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[bill_mcgonigle]

> There's not adblocker app for Roku, right ?

I have a Roku TV and ran into this.

I got a $25 FireTV 4K stick, set it as the default HDMI source, and null routed the Roku IP.

Smart Tube Next player on github is better than the official client too. And I have a Premium Subscription, the official client is just incredibly lazy.

fuck rent-seekers

[sixsixtysix]

Why does Roku think it deserves anything at all? If anything, they (and pretty much all hardware manufacturers) should be paying the services to use their platform, not this ass-backwards rent-seeking.

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[nadass]

What you're saying is YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT ANY OF THIS WAS ALL ABOUT!

Google/YouTube were demanding Roku to re-design, re-develop, and then highlight YouTube results in all built-in library search queries by adding more sponsored "shelf" contents curated by Google/YouTube rather than Roku's own search algorithm.

Roku simply said that they do not and cannot redevelop the search on their own dime, and tried to offer Google/YouTube solutions. But being the bullies they are, Google/YouTube went to war.

T

Re: fuck rent-seekers

[sixsixtysix]

Unrelated to the topic at hand? Sure. That doesn't change the fact that these asshats seek rent from service providers.

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[nadass]

You're still confused -- consumer hardware providers don't truly expect anything from the content providers who choose to publish a channel/app into the ecosystem. The only ones seeking free rent are content providers who provide localized CDN content (and hardware) for installation within ISP data centers whereby the DC foots the bill for space, bandwidth, utilities, and maintenance services.

So, where do you get the idea that my Roku Streaming Stick (running Roku OS without AV1 support) plugged into my

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[whoever57]

Why does Roku think it deserves anything at all? If anything, they (and pretty much all hardware manufacturers) should be paying the services to use their platform, not this ass-backwards rent-seeking.

Just like Apple and Google pay developers who publish apps in their app stores? Oh wait!

Google needs Roku to dodge the Feds

[xanthos]

Big tech are prime targets these days. Withdrawing your popular app from another platform because they won't give you preferential treatment to the data they collect is just asking for trouble. Easier to extend the existing agreement and wait for things to cool down.

I was a loyal roku customer

[bl968]

But I left because of issues like these including with Twitch, HBOMax, etc.

Since then I have been a very happy Nvidia Shield TV pro owner and haven't looked back. Love the shield TV's AI upscaling of HD content to 4k! Best feature ever! Plus the ability to sideload unapproved apps on the shield!

Before I left I had bought every Roku from the original Roku, the stick, all the way through the premier. I even got a TCL ROKU TV, but I never use the Roku features on it.

They lost my business together for playing g

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[JackieBrown]

I love my Shield as well. I have two of the older models and 1 of the newer.

I kept buying the shitty 3rd party knockoff android tv devices before realizing I was spending a lot of money just not to spend a lot of money on the shield. Once I had it, I was hooked. The gamestreaming thing was awesome as well (and they were the only large players in town when it started.) Now that all the game makers have their own service and restrict Nvidia from serving their content (that we had to pay the original distr