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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

#101

Post by dpweb »

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…

No, I can easily drop YouTube TV. Roku is built into each of my 3 TVs. I'm glad this was about Youtube TV, if it ws the Youtube app I'd have a problem.

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

#102

Post by datavirtue »

kgwxd wrote: post #15
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.

I find it more annoying that standard websites don't just work on a Roku. I'd rather Google didn't have to maintain yet another app for yet another proprietary device, it should all just be build on open standards.

Browsers are god-awful slow on the hardware that ships with smart TVs. I tried it on a LG TV that ships with a browser. Horrid.

I'm still wondering why the keyboard doesn't work for all the different channels/apps on my smartphone remote for the Roku. Streaming via smart TV is a major regression as far as UX.

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

#103

Post by Gunax »

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…

I am a bit sympathetic to them because that's what the market asks for.

I am looking at the prices of rokus, and my guess is they are losing money on the hardware.

And yes, we should have a completely free (as in speech) device. But if you actually offered it and priced it accordingly, most people would not buy it.

It's dumb but it's what we consumers have voiced with our money.

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

#107

Post by ZoomerCretin »

inetknght wrote: post #75
ethbr0 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And we could just link to the original Roku blog post, instead of Axios: https://www.roku.com/blog/update-on-youtube-tv

That doesn't load without javascript.

Probably doesn’t work on ie6, either.

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

#108

Post by wincy »

brk wrote: post #39

The competitive landscape for what is turning out to be the next evolution of in-home video content delivery is just making me realize that the content is not worth the hassle. I'm not going to replace a $100/mo CATV subscription with 10 (or even 5) $10/mo individual subscriptions, where I have to constantly remember which service provides a particular show. I'm not going to have multiple dongles and devices to watch…

I just use a VPN, flexget, PLEX, and a torrent client. Automatically downloads new episodes at the resolution I want for the shows I want. I can watch at my leisure and get no ads.

I hate advertisements. I also don’t watch my shows these days, it almost all feels like indoctrination at this point.

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

#109

Post by HelloMcFly »

gonehome wrote: post #50
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.

Roku's differentiating feature has always been simplicity and universal search. Does Apple TV offer universal search across content providers? I'm asking, I don't know, but it's the one feature I can't give up.

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

#110

Post by sassifrass »

015a wrote: post #62
kritiko wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"middle managers" are not negotiating these partnership deals. I don't really buy the compression algorithm thing either - surely they make more off of ads than the savings that would be generated from better compression. pretty sure this is just hardball over revenue sharing, data sharing, and technical requirements...

Sure they are. In mega-corporations like Alphabet, even the head of YouTube is a middle-manager.

The “head of YouTube” is Susan Wojcicki [1]. Her title is CEO of YouTube, she reports directly to the CEO of Alphabet, Sundar Pichai [2], and is frequently floated as a candidate for next CEO of Alphabet if Mr. Pichai left. She has thousands of people in her reporting chain. She is about as far from a middle-manager as you are from being Alphabet’s CEO. Please inform yourself a bit more before making completely outlandish statements.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Wojcicki [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundar_Pichai

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