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Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

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Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#161

Post by slenk »

dangus wrote: post #157
cptskippy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Roku user who thinks Google takes a pretty hostile approach to anyone using their App on Roku, I disagree. If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to…

Hot take: the Apple TV is easily the best device of its kind on the market and I’m continually confused at why it doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to the most popular option. Every other steaming device I’ve ever tried is riddled with ads, dark patterns, and slow slow SLOW performance. I can understand the aversion to a $200 device just to watch some Internet TV but then I watch people making six figures pretend lik…

Unless you are fully in the Apple ecosystem already, it's not very welcoming.

Price being one thing but with how Apple recently demonstrated they can just take away all your movies with no recourse, I will pass

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#162

Post by cptskippy »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #143
cptskippy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Roku user who thinks Google takes a pretty hostile approach to anyone using their App on Roku, I disagree. If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to…

> If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. If you're using a fullscreen app on macOS and activate spotlight, do you expect it to only search that app, or do you expect it to behave like Spotlight always behaves and search the entire system? Put another way, this depends entirely on how the OS and UI is set up.

On Roku if you search in an App it is localized. If you search on the home screen it is not. I expect voice search to behave similarly.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#163

Post by cdiddy2 »

etempleton wrote: post #142

HBO Max was delayed in appearing on Roku because of negotiation breakdowns. In the case HBO it was Roku that seemed to have the demands. They are looking at revenue anywhere they can, but if their position weakens look for Google, ATT, and others to simply forgo working with them. I think Roku is in a perilous position in general. They generated a lot of buzz on Wallstreet with their high user counts. They also purch…

I use roku simply because its not connected to a big tech company. Same reason I use spotify. I wonder how many others there are like me

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#164

Post by izacus »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #154
izacus wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last I checked YouTube requires VP9 support for HDR. Why is requesting that new devices support the format to avoid fragmentation a problem? Apple also demands certain format support for their video streams to work (not to mention a browser).

The keyword is “threaten”

Can you explain more? How is "We'll be streaming channels in VP9 and your client needs to support it to continue working?" a "threat"?

Is Apple dropping support for older iMacs / MacBooks / iPhones also a threat to all the companies using them?

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#165

Post by coding123 »

8ytecoder wrote: post #107
cptskippy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Roku user who thinks Google takes a pretty hostile approach to anyone using their App on Roku, I disagree. If I'm in an App and search, I expect my search to be localized to that App. That being said, f*k Roku and their voice remote. They've been pushing that crap hard. Showing prompts on screen for upwards of 30 seconds to push the Mic button. I don't want my remote to have a microphone or be able to listen to…

The behaviour I expect is that the voice search is global except when I specifically go to the search screen of the app. That’s how it works on Apple TV and that’s what is intuitive to me.

Same here - I had to reread the parent comment because I have a Roku too and that's the behavior so that's what I expect...?

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#166

Post by cardiffspaceman »

throwawayboise wrote: post #101
malka wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is both what many users would expect If I'm watching a video on youtube and ask to play music, no I do NOT want at all youtube to handle that. Youtube music is crap. Google has proven many times that they are totally unable to manage music. They should stop to try, because it is utterly embarrassing.

> Youtube music is crap It's good enough for a lot of people. I pay for YouTube Premium, so I get YouTube music (formerly Google Play Music) included, and it works well enough that I'm not going to pay for a separate music app.

Youtube music was better until several months ago, when they made some changes that ruined it for me. I haven't used Youtube for an extended session of watching music videos since those changes happened. Overall I have watched many fewer music videos since the change. This is on Youtube as implemented on Android TV.

I definitely prefer music videos over plain audio streams.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#167

Post by thehnguy »

s3r3nity wrote: post #2

> Roku alleges Google has asked it to favor YouTube music results from voice commands made on the Roku remote while the YouTube app is open, even if the user's music preference is set to default to another music app, like Pandora. > Roku says Google has threatened to require Roku to use certain chip sets or memory cards that would force Roku to increase the price of its hardware product, which competes directly with…

Not a good look Google; especially when you've got a great, big target on your back from the antitrust/anticompetitive hawks.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#168

Post by jedimastert »

cdiddy2 wrote: post #163
etempleton wrote: post #142

HBO Max was delayed in appearing on Roku because of negotiation breakdowns. In the case HBO it was Roku that seemed to have the demands. They are looking at revenue anywhere they can, but if their position weakens look for Google, ATT, and others to simply forgo working with them. I think Roku is in a perilous position in general. They generated a lot of buzz on Wallstreet with their high user counts. They also purch…

I use roku simply because its not connected to a big tech company. Same reason I use spotify. I wonder how many others there are like me

> Same reason I use spotify

I think it's pretty safe to call Spotify a big tech company at this point

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#169

Post by asadlionpk »

cdiddy2 wrote: post #163
etempleton wrote: post #142

HBO Max was delayed in appearing on Roku because of negotiation breakdowns. In the case HBO it was Roku that seemed to have the demands. They are looking at revenue anywhere they can, but if their position weakens look for Google, ATT, and others to simply forgo working with them. I think Roku is in a perilous position in general. They generated a lot of buzz on Wallstreet with their high user counts. They also purch…

I use roku simply because its not connected to a big tech company. Same reason I use spotify. I wonder how many others there are like me

I am the opposite. Big tech is under scrutiny and are watched closely for the data they collect. These small companies are in lawless territory and heavily collect questionable data.

Re: Roku says it may lose YouTube TV app after Google made anti-competitive demands

#170

Post by Spivak »

bogwog wrote: post #141
Spivak wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was “you must have a Netflix button and no others” I could see the argument but the demand for a particular user experience isn’t anticompetitive automatically. Company with leverage others might not have using that leverage isn’t something we vilify in general.

If you're willfully ignorant of the situation, then sure. Otherwise, using leverage to favor your own product over competitors despite user preference is textbook anti-competitive behavior, almost comically so: Not only does it unfairly disadvantage competitors, but it also robs consumers of choice (by ignoring their preferences). I would love to see one of the meetings that lead to absurdly unethical and borderline/…

No, it really isn't. Look, I agree with you -- a company throwing their weight around feels super shitty. But leveraging your advantages is basically just business.

Netflix paying Roku to add their button on remotes wouldn't be anti-competitive in the same way that buying exclusive ad space isn't. And therefore Netflix realizing that they bring so much value to the Roku ecosystem that they can get their button without actually having to pay is good business. Like I hate it. But it's true.

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