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Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

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Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#41

Post by judge2020 »

kumarvvr wrote: post #12

From the original blog of Roku "First, Google continues to interfere with Roku’s independent search results, requiring that we preference YouTube over other content providers" "Second, Google discriminates against Roku by demanding search, voice, and data features that they do not insist on from other streaming platforms." I would be much more comfortable if the headline says, "Google made unreasonable demands on Rok…

And yet

> To be clear, we have never, as they have alleged, made any requests to access user data or interfere with search results. This claim is baseless and false.

So one of them (but most likely both of them) are being dishonest in their PR plays to get the other side to give in to demands.

https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-our-youtube-tv-m...

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#42

Post by tootie »

gameswithgo wrote: post #2

It is so dumb and twisted that there even needs to be a deal. Any web browser can hit youtube, you can probably get to youtube via a web browser anyway on a roku, if not they could in principle do that. Also dumb and twisted that as a paying youtube subscriber, I could buy a computer (a roku) and not be allowed to access youtube on it. Do better, tech.

A few years ago I had a FireTV and Amazon was having the same dispute over youtube. FireTV had a few browser options at the time (Firefox or Amazon Silk) and either one could load youtube. In fact, the youtube app for OTT devices was just a wrapped web experience hosted on youtube.com/tv so it was nearly identical to the app experience.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#44

Post by [deleted] »

AJ007 wrote: post #21
gameswithgo wrote: post #2

It is so dumb and twisted that there even needs to be a deal. Any web browser can hit youtube, you can probably get to youtube via a web browser anyway on a roku, if not they could in principle do that. Also dumb and twisted that as a paying youtube subscriber, I could buy a computer (a roku) and not be allowed to access youtube on it. Do better, tech.

Roku should add a one click cancel button for YouTube Premium.

[deleted]

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#45

Post by mywittyname »

gameswithgo wrote: post #2

It is so dumb and twisted that there even needs to be a deal. Any web browser can hit youtube, you can probably get to youtube via a web browser anyway on a roku, if not they could in principle do that. Also dumb and twisted that as a paying youtube subscriber, I could buy a computer (a roku) and not be allowed to access youtube on it. Do better, tech.

This confuses me too. Presumably they can install a build of Chrome on the box and have the "app" be `chrome youtube.com`.

Though, I can understand in principle why they don't do this, why give traffic to jerks?

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#46

Post by Spivak »

Crash0v3rid3 wrote: post #9

The article doesn’t mention what exactly Google’s demands are. Doesn’t anyone have an idea on this?

https://www.theverge.com/22412430/roku-youtube-tv-google-feu...

The only demand that Google hasn't refuted is requiring AV1 codec support. I can't find any specifics about search manipulation or user data access.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#47

Post by ethbr0 »

judge2020 wrote: post #37
mdasen wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that companies like Roku are increasingly making their money by having companies like YouTube TV pay them to carry their apps. Likewise, there are lots of things about these systems that can fall under negotiations. For example, what analytics does Roku get access to for actions taken within apps? Does Roku get insight into what YouTube videos you're watching? From Roku's blog post, it seems that Google…

> From Roku's blog post, it seems that Google wants a dedicated area in the global search for YouTube results. For example, If you search for "Last Week Tonight", Google wants a YouTube results row showing clips on their service above results from other content platforms like HBO Max. Basically, Google wants to have the placement that search ads get on their platform on Roku. Previous discussions[0] suggested that it…

It's a great example of what both companies see as their value proposition (to users, and to Wall Street).

Roku: aggregating multiple streaming providers in a provider-agnostic way

Google: centralizing streaming through the YouTube brand (considering it comprises multiple offerings now)

I'm not a huge fan of Roku, due to data collection, but it's apparent who's on the side of the user here. Google/YouTube has finally grown big enough to be everything we hated about legacy content providers.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#48

Post by maxsilver »

015a wrote: post #40

This whole situation really feels like Google has their head stuck up their ass. People are just as likely to leave Roku, as they are to leave YouTube TV. Their subscriber numbers can't be strong enough to justify such idiotic behavior. To me, this sounds like a middle manager gone rogue, and no one higher up has stepped in yet and said "Ok, you shot your shot, but Roku called your bluff, you've taken this way too fa…

It's doubly weird, because YouTube TV is literally just a side project -- There's at least a 50% chance Google just totally shuts down YouTube TV within the next five years. (Like they already did with Google Play Music, and Google Play Movies + TV once before).

Google's going to war with Roku over something that Google doesn't care about at all (it's one minor ancillary line of business to them), but is Roku's main and only meaningful line of business.

If you want to be locked into a single vendor, you can already buy Google TV from Sony or TCL (where this vendor-lock-in is guaranteed). The whole point of Roku is that it's independent, it's not operated by any one streaming/media service, it's not a "Google TV" or an "Apple TV" or a "PlayStation TV" or whatever.

Roku has to fight this, tooth-and-nail, or all other services on the Roku platform will demand the same, and totally destroy the entire Roku product lineup.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#49

Post by micromacrofoot »

gameswithgo wrote: post #2

It is so dumb and twisted that there even needs to be a deal. Any web browser can hit youtube, you can probably get to youtube via a web browser anyway on a roku, if not they could in principle do that. Also dumb and twisted that as a paying youtube subscriber, I could buy a computer (a roku) and not be allowed to access youtube on it. Do better, tech.

You go a little further... Google can decide to specifically ban you personally from accessing YouTube.

Re: Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube

#50

Post by gonehome »

dtjb wrote: post #18

I get this situation is different since YouTube is looking for concessions on functionality, but I find it hard to defend Roku with their triple-dipping scheme. They charge for the device (I paid over $100 for my 4k HDR box), then they display massive ads covering 50% of the screen, then they want a cut of revenue from content providers as well. Roku burned through a lot of goodwill with their customers during the HB…

Yeah I liked them initially, but have since thrown out all their crap and bought Apple TVs.

Once Apple got Amazon prime streaming roku lost their only differentiating feature. The ads really annoyed me to the extent that I don’t care if they fail.

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