The YouTube App Might Get Deleted From Roku Soon — Heres Why

The YouTube App Might Get Deleted From Roku Soon — Here’s Why

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Thinking about buying a Roku? Are you someone who watches a lot of YouTube? You might want to think twice and buy a different streaming device.

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The YouTube App Might Get Deleted From Roku Soon — Heres Why

Roku is one of the largest smart TV platforms on the market, but thanks to a rocky relationship with Google, it won’t have the YouTube app for much longer. Ever since the original Roku streaming box launched in 2008, it’s been the go-to platform for streaming movies/TV shows in the living room. Roku typically has access to the most streaming apps, its interface is easy to use, and there are countless hardware offerings from cheap streaming sticks to smart TVs with Roku built-in.

Within the last couple of years, however, Roku’s struggled to get certain apps on its devices. HBO Max went live in May 2020, but it wasn’t until December of that year before there was an official Roku app. A similar situation happened with NBC’s Peacock streaming service. Peacock launched in April 2020, but Roku users had to wait until September before they could use it.

Unfortunately for Roku, the streaming giant has hit another rough patch. On October 21, the company published a blog post titled, “Preserving consumer choice and fair competition in TV streaming.” Roku uses the post to explain that it failed to reach an agreement with Google to keep the YouTube app on its platform. Shortly after, a Google representative confirmed this — saying, “our partnership for all new Roku devices will unfortunately end on December 9.” In short, anyone who already has the YouTube app installed on their Roku can keep using it like normal. Once December 9 rolls around, however, the YouTube app will disappear from the Roku app store for all new users.

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Why YouTube’s Days On Roku Are Numbered

This might come as a shock to some readers, but Roku and Google haven’t gotten along for a while now. Earlier this year, something similar happened with the YouTube TV app. Roku and Google couldn’t reach an agreement for their streaming contract, and because of that, the YouTube TV app has been missing from Roku since this April. The reasoning behind these repeated disagreements varies considerably depending on who you ask.

According to Roku, Google is trying to “interfere with Roku’s independent search results, requiring that we [Roku] preference YouTube over other content providers.” Roku also claims that Google “discriminates” the company by “demanding search, voice, and data features that they [Google] do not insist on from other streaming platforms.” Google, on the other hand, outright denies all of these claims. Per a representative from the company, “Since our negotiations with Roku earlier this year, we’ve continued to work with them to find a resolution that benefits our mutual users. Roku has once again chosen to make unproductive and baseless claims rather than try to work constructively with us.”

In short, it’s a game of he-said-she-said. Roku claims that Google is trying to manipulate search results to favor YouTube over other apps. Google says these claims are baseless and denies all of them. In the middle of both companies failing to get along, the real losers are people shopping for a new streaming device. Existing Roku users are in the clear no matter what happens, but for anyone who uses YouTube, Rokus could become a lot less appealing. Especially with the holiday shopping season right around the corner, Roku may soon find itself in a pretty sticky situation.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/roku-youtube-app-leaving-why-google-contract/

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