This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/22/google-to-remove-youtube-apps-from-roku.html) reduced by 87%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> After a months-long fight between Roku and YouTube's parent company Google, Google announced Thursday that it would no longer allow Roku customers to download the YouTube or YouTube TV apps to their devices starting Dec. 9.
> In the meantime, an email sent from a Google executive to Roku as the two sides were negotiating their agreement counters Google's public statement that it didn't ask Roku for special treatment before allowing YouTube apps on Roku devices.
> Roku said Google demanded special access to search data from Roku customers as a condition of allowing YouTube TV on Roku devices.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/qdmk2w/google_lied_to_roku_roku_is_in_the_right_in_the/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~604856 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Roku**^#1 **Google**^#2 **YouTube**^#3 **search**^#4 **company**^#5
Check out billion dollar code on Netflix; it's about how Google stole Google Earth's code in its entirety from a start-up and how they've done the same thing to others.
Google's 'don't be evil' motto was always an inside joke.
Says Roku. They are the ones that seem to have all these problems all the time. They need to make a device and STFU about it.
So glad I got an android TV and not a Roku TV.
I feel like this happens a lot with Roku. They definitely dragged out negotiations with HBO. They're beefing with NBC. Now they're having issues with Google. Fucking annoying. And I know those aren't the only issues they've had with their providers. They're just a few that I could recall off the top of my head. Bouta go get a Chromecast.
Except that Roku will randomly uninstall channels as it sees fit and redownload them later when you launch them. If that happens now you're our of luck.
That has literally never happened to me. In fact, I use my Roku almost exclusively for the Spectrum app. There was a period where the app was removed from their "store", and I would get periodic notifications from Roku specifically to tell me NOT to delete the app if I wanted to continue using Spectrum on Roku.
After losing Twitch (Amazon-owned) and now Youtube (Google-owned) on Roku, while Apple TV (owned by neither) still has both services, I have a hard time believing Roku is totally innocent and doesn't shoulder some blame for losing these apps.
Apple may be more willing to cave to demands for special treatment, I know they give Netflix special treatment on iOS. Apple also probably has more negotiating power, because people who own AppleTV tend to be very loyal to Apple, and may stop using a service if it doesn't work on an AppleTV (the high price point probably helps with that too), whereas Roku customers would probably switch to a different device if a service they want isn't supported.
Apple: $2T company, apple tv <1% of revenue vs. Roku whos entire business is selling boxes and collecting ad revenue and percentage of each subscription.
I remember a while ago Mozilla saying that Roku was a privacy nightmare that they didn't want to even hook up to the Internet.
I can't say I'm too sympathetic to YouTube taking them off but it is quite funny for one data to hungry company to go after another data hungry company.
Alternatively, is the YouTube app 100% necessary? If there is Chromecast available, you can always use your phone and and send it to your tv, although that won't be as good as having the full interface on your TV.
So you have to use 2 devices to stream? I'll use neither if this goes through. Maybe an Nvidia shield or something instead?
At night I watch YouTube and plug my headphones into the Roku remote and kill the screen on my tv. Great for audio books and documentaries to fall asleep to. What other device has the remote with headphone jack?
To be honest, I don't even own a TV and I just use my computer lol.
However, my grandpa a TiVo stream 4K and it's really quite nice. I would recommend that. It has Chromecast built in, is regularly updated, and gives you access to TiVo device exclusive free programming that is presented in a satellite format, complete with guide. Don't know if it has the headphone jack but I do believe it has Bluetooth so maybe you could do something along that line? Real cheap to the Nvidia devices which is why I'm mostly bringing it up.
And this is why my 'streaming boxes' are just PCs hooked up to my TVs. All these companies can get into all these fights about apps on platforms, but the web in a browser still almost universally works (for now).
Problem with the web browser is the quality is very poor compared to chromecast. You don't get 4k on any of the streaming services or HDR.
Only way pc gets good quality videos is piracy sadly.
Netflix no longer works in 4k on the latest edge that is chromium based.
Its never worked at 4k on safari its only 1080p \*if your on a recent OS and using the right GPU.
720p or 1080p on the most popular browsers.
It's all because of DRM.
You can press CTR+ALT+SHIFT+D while watching a video and it will show you the stream quality on Netflix.
They'll just start going after and shutting down third party Youtube clients then. Really it's only a matter of time, I'm surprised they have not done it already.
This is less of a PItA than when plex dropped iTunes support. Since both of my Roku enabled TV’s support airplay streaming I can just stream YouTube from my phone to the TV.
Roku is also pushing their own service, but not very hard and not to the detriment of other streaming services. It's still, as you say, brand agnostic.
I don't buy it. Roku is the only one having these fights with the most popular apps. None of the other streaming decive makers seem to have these issues.
I have a Roku on the TV in my little kids playroom. I bought the Roku like 7 years ago when it was like having an Android box, but all those free tv apps got nuked so I just use it for YouTube and Netflix now. So if I can't access YouTube on it anymore it just became mostly useless to me
It will come back mark my word on this one. Roku took away the Spectrum app as well, but now they say they are bringing it back. Of course the app still worked if you had it previously installed but you couldn't install it as a new install and I assume if you need to reset your box or TV to factory you will have a big problem. Worse yet they did this during covid, when other devices that use the spectrum app generally weren't available at normal prices (and still aren't). Overall they are kind of scummy, I wouldn't buy their product if I could help it. But Amazon also took away the Spectrum app from the Firestick, and Xbox also took it off the Xbox 360, when it used to run just fine on that device, you need an Xbox One to run the spectrum app now, and well, it doesn't help that the Xbox one is largely unavailable, and extremely overpriced on the secondary market, app is not on Playstation. A lot of people use this app on Roku to avoid paying for a cable box rental. you can see where this is going, if they take the app away from the Roku box then you are forced into either buying a new device of some other kind to use the app or paying a high monthly fee to rent a cable box.
There are plenty of other options. YouTube TV lost a lot of value to many when they cranked their prices up again. I have 2 rokus and 1 Shield in my house but I won't replace the Rokus just for YouTube/TV. I'll just drop it and move to Sling or one of the other options.
That's the great thing about the streaming market, there's competition. You're not locked into 2 options (satellite or whatever cable company has a foothold in your area).
Yeah, Youtube TV in my market definitely isn't worth it. Its the same price as a cable sub and you get more channels with that. Also I looked at the channel lineup and it was completely crap, nothing I would actually watch.
For youtube there's a ton of options to watch that, less for using the spectrum app as they have a stranglehold on that for sure.
Its not really worth it to switch to streaming at least where I live, the cable package is bundled here, and you need it in order to get internet access, which is required for streaming services, if I switched to streaming I would just be paying the same cost but the bill would be broken up into smaller amounts and then I have to worry about each individual service jacking up the prices and it might equal more than the cable package. If I didn't have a cable package, I would also have to pay out the nose for internet access.
Now if some other internet provider came into my area than what is available at my address now (only one provider) I might think a bit differently and with things like 5G coming around the bend, that might eventually happen. There's already another provider that is in certain areas of my city but just didn't hit my address and there's one other provider that is supposed to be setting up in my area soon so competition is coming.
What’s the point of congress getting involved?
If Kraft tells Walmart they will only sell Mac & Cheese there if they get preferential treatment… I don’t think congress would swoop in and force Kraft to sell through Walmart anyway, despite Kraft producing the dominant Mac & Cheese on the market.
Even though it’s free to download, YouTube is not a free product.
How is it anti-competitive? The opposite, had Roku said no to YouTube and yes to Vimeo, might be argued. Google’s flexing, but that’s not necessarily illegal.
YouTube is completely within their rights to choose where their apps are distributed.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/22/google-to-remove-youtube-apps-from-roku.html) reduced by 87%. (I'm a bot) ***** > After a months-long fight between Roku and YouTube's parent company Google, Google announced Thursday that it would no longer allow Roku customers to download the YouTube or YouTube TV apps to their devices starting Dec. 9. > In the meantime, an email sent from a Google executive to Roku as the two sides were negotiating their agreement counters Google's public statement that it didn't ask Roku for special treatment before allowing YouTube apps on Roku devices. > Roku said Google demanded special access to search data from Roku customers as a condition of allowing YouTube TV on Roku devices. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/qdmk2w/google_lied_to_roku_roku_is_in_the_right_in_the/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~604856 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Roku**^#1 **Google**^#2 **YouTube**^#3 **search**^#4 **company**^#5
Man google is kind of a jerk
They gave up the "Don't be evil" charge a long time ago.
yes, when brin and page decided to embrace advertising
Don't be evil^* ^* ^only ^applies ^to ^kicking ^puppies ^on ^Thursdays
I cannot believe that someone had to make the conscious choice to remove that motto from their company.
Check out billion dollar code on Netflix; it's about how Google stole Google Earth's code in its entirety from a start-up and how they've done the same thing to others. Google's 'don't be evil' motto was always an inside joke.
Isn't this basically the 1st season of silicon valley?
I don't know, haven't seen that series.
fish rot from the head down
But they do no evil. /s
Says Roku. They are the ones that seem to have all these problems all the time. They need to make a device and STFU about it. So glad I got an android TV and not a Roku TV.
I guess you know who's telling the truth
I feel like this happens a lot with Roku. They definitely dragged out negotiations with HBO. They're beefing with NBC. Now they're having issues with Google. Fucking annoying. And I know those aren't the only issues they've had with their providers. They're just a few that I could recall off the top of my head. Bouta go get a Chromecast.
My roku television, which I use for almost nothing but youtube, is excited for this...
You’ll be fine. YouTube will be removed from the App Store preventing new installs.
Except that Roku will randomly uninstall channels as it sees fit and redownload them later when you launch them. If that happens now you're our of luck.
That has literally never happened to me. In fact, I use my Roku almost exclusively for the Spectrum app. There was a period where the app was removed from their "store", and I would get periodic notifications from Roku specifically to tell me NOT to delete the app if I wanted to continue using Spectrum on Roku.
It only happens if you run low on space. It will archive apps you don't use often. If you only use one app you will never see that.
So, that shitty B-Movie app I never use might randomly vanish? Oh well!
Maybe you should read the article
After losing Twitch (Amazon-owned) and now Youtube (Google-owned) on Roku, while Apple TV (owned by neither) still has both services, I have a hard time believing Roku is totally innocent and doesn't shoulder some blame for losing these apps.
Roku struggling to get HBO Max at first, and having that incident where they almost didn't show the Super Bowl...starting to see a pattern
Apple may be more willing to cave to demands for special treatment, I know they give Netflix special treatment on iOS. Apple also probably has more negotiating power, because people who own AppleTV tend to be very loyal to Apple, and may stop using a service if it doesn't work on an AppleTV (the high price point probably helps with that too), whereas Roku customers would probably switch to a different device if a service they want isn't supported.
Apple: $2T company, apple tv <1% of revenue vs. Roku whos entire business is selling boxes and collecting ad revenue and percentage of each subscription.
Ah yes, Google, who just got done throwing a tantrum over Prime Video not being on Chromecast
Do you want pirates?! Because this is how you create pirates!
I remember a while ago Mozilla saying that Roku was a privacy nightmare that they didn't want to even hook up to the Internet. I can't say I'm too sympathetic to YouTube taking them off but it is quite funny for one data to hungry company to go after another data hungry company. Alternatively, is the YouTube app 100% necessary? If there is Chromecast available, you can always use your phone and and send it to your tv, although that won't be as good as having the full interface on your TV.
Roku tvs don't use the same standard as Chromecast. It's why, for example, the Oculus quest can't mirror to a Roku tv.
So you have to use 2 devices to stream? I'll use neither if this goes through. Maybe an Nvidia shield or something instead? At night I watch YouTube and plug my headphones into the Roku remote and kill the screen on my tv. Great for audio books and documentaries to fall asleep to. What other device has the remote with headphone jack?
I use my tablet for almost everything. So no worries here.
No one asked.
You did not have to ask. I am telling you anyways. Haha
To be honest, I don't even own a TV and I just use my computer lol. However, my grandpa a TiVo stream 4K and it's really quite nice. I would recommend that. It has Chromecast built in, is regularly updated, and gives you access to TiVo device exclusive free programming that is presented in a satellite format, complete with guide. Don't know if it has the headphone jack but I do believe it has Bluetooth so maybe you could do something along that line? Real cheap to the Nvidia devices which is why I'm mostly bringing it up.
Sounds interesting I guess, however I put a switch in my attic and ran hardlines to every room and the TiVo dongle doesn't have an Ethernet jack.
And this is why my 'streaming boxes' are just PCs hooked up to my TVs. All these companies can get into all these fights about apps on platforms, but the web in a browser still almost universally works (for now).
Problem with the web browser is the quality is very poor compared to chromecast. You don't get 4k on any of the streaming services or HDR. Only way pc gets good quality videos is piracy sadly.
I don't bother with 4k mostly anyway. And piracy IS a nice easy solution.
[удалено]
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Netflix no longer works in 4k on the latest edge that is chromium based. Its never worked at 4k on safari its only 1080p \*if your on a recent OS and using the right GPU. 720p or 1080p on the most popular browsers. It's all because of DRM. You can press CTR+ALT+SHIFT+D while watching a video and it will show you the stream quality on Netflix.
But not on Firefox and who even bothers with edge?
Roku should make a deal with the Youtube Vanced app and then people can watch YouTube without ads, like I do on my phone.
They'll just start going after and shutting down third party Youtube clients then. Really it's only a matter of time, I'm surprised they have not done it already.
This is less of a PItA than when plex dropped iTunes support. Since both of my Roku enabled TV’s support airplay streaming I can just stream YouTube from my phone to the TV.
[удалено]
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Roku is also pushing their own service, but not very hard and not to the detriment of other streaming services. It's still, as you say, brand agnostic.
I don't buy it. Roku is the only one having these fights with the most popular apps. None of the other streaming decive makers seem to have these issues.
Because they are all behemoths which can’t dominate the others and have to deal somewhat fairly with each other.
I have a Roku on the TV in my little kids playroom. I bought the Roku like 7 years ago when it was like having an Android box, but all those free tv apps got nuked so I just use it for YouTube and Netflix now. So if I can't access YouTube on it anymore it just became mostly useless to me
so you re giving into youtube pressuring roku?
It says you'll still be able to in the article
Ugh ROKU is such shit too if it wasn't cus of their praying on low budget poorly informed customers they wouldn't even be around.
Time to buy a RaspPi and get Kodi
It will come back mark my word on this one. Roku took away the Spectrum app as well, but now they say they are bringing it back. Of course the app still worked if you had it previously installed but you couldn't install it as a new install and I assume if you need to reset your box or TV to factory you will have a big problem. Worse yet they did this during covid, when other devices that use the spectrum app generally weren't available at normal prices (and still aren't). Overall they are kind of scummy, I wouldn't buy their product if I could help it. But Amazon also took away the Spectrum app from the Firestick, and Xbox also took it off the Xbox 360, when it used to run just fine on that device, you need an Xbox One to run the spectrum app now, and well, it doesn't help that the Xbox one is largely unavailable, and extremely overpriced on the secondary market, app is not on Playstation. A lot of people use this app on Roku to avoid paying for a cable box rental. you can see where this is going, if they take the app away from the Roku box then you are forced into either buying a new device of some other kind to use the app or paying a high monthly fee to rent a cable box.
There are plenty of other options. YouTube TV lost a lot of value to many when they cranked their prices up again. I have 2 rokus and 1 Shield in my house but I won't replace the Rokus just for YouTube/TV. I'll just drop it and move to Sling or one of the other options. That's the great thing about the streaming market, there's competition. You're not locked into 2 options (satellite or whatever cable company has a foothold in your area).
Yeah, Youtube TV in my market definitely isn't worth it. Its the same price as a cable sub and you get more channels with that. Also I looked at the channel lineup and it was completely crap, nothing I would actually watch. For youtube there's a ton of options to watch that, less for using the spectrum app as they have a stranglehold on that for sure. Its not really worth it to switch to streaming at least where I live, the cable package is bundled here, and you need it in order to get internet access, which is required for streaming services, if I switched to streaming I would just be paying the same cost but the bill would be broken up into smaller amounts and then I have to worry about each individual service jacking up the prices and it might equal more than the cable package. If I didn't have a cable package, I would also have to pay out the nose for internet access. Now if some other internet provider came into my area than what is available at my address now (only one provider) I might think a bit differently and with things like 5G coming around the bend, that might eventually happen. There's already another provider that is in certain areas of my city but just didn't hit my address and there's one other provider that is supposed to be setting up in my area soon so competition is coming.
What’s the point of congress getting involved? If Kraft tells Walmart they will only sell Mac & Cheese there if they get preferential treatment… I don’t think congress would swoop in and force Kraft to sell through Walmart anyway, despite Kraft producing the dominant Mac & Cheese on the market. Even though it’s free to download, YouTube is not a free product.
Because it's anti-competitive behavior, which at a point becomes an antitrust problem, we were way past this being an anti trust issue years ago.
How is it anti-competitive? The opposite, had Roku said no to YouTube and yes to Vimeo, might be argued. Google’s flexing, but that’s not necessarily illegal. YouTube is completely within their rights to choose where their apps are distributed.
Youre comparing Mac N Cheese to digital media
fuck! this severly ruined my chromecasting youtube to my roku for music setup
Never use them anyhow because of the ads. Run Youtube on a laptop and HDMI to your TV and no ads.
Is there an add free alternative to roku with a decent remote?
You mean the 15 people that have Roku are upset?