Access to the core YouTube app on 'new' Roku streaming devices is in jeopardy as a battle between Roku and Google nears the six month mark.

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

October 22, 2021

6 Min Read
Roku-Google stalemate lives on as YouTube deadline looms

The war between Roku and Google about to open another front: the core YouTube app.

With negotiations toward a new distribution deal between Roku and YouTube TV at a standstill almost six months after their last agreement lapsed, it's now possible that the baseline YouTube app could become inaccessible to "new" Roku devices in early December.

"Since our negotiations with Roku earlier this year, we've continued to work with them to find a resolution that benefits our mutual users," Google said in a statement to Axios.

"Roku has once again chosen to make unproductive and baseless claims rather than try to work constructively with us. Since we haven’t been able to continue our conversations in good faith, our partnership for all new Roku devices will unfortunately end on December 9. We are, however, giving Roku the ability to continue distributing both YouTube and YouTube TV apps to all existing users to make sure they are not impacted."

Figure 1: The core YouTube app could become unavailable on new Roku devices in early December if Google and Roku fail to resolve their differences. (Image source: Roku Channel Store) The core YouTube app could become unavailable on new Roku devices in early December if Google and Roku fail to resolve their differences.
(Image source: Roku Channel Store)

That statement and the "unproductive and baseless claims," as characterized by Google, were made in response to an October 21 blog post from Roku that provided an update to users on the situation with Google. Roku claimed it has "seen a disturbing trend that threatens the vibrant and competitive TV streaming ecosystem," and put Google at the forefront of those alleged issues.

"Importantly, our concerns with Google are not about money. We have not asked for a single change in the financial terms of our existing agreement," Roku claimed, noting that Roku does not make money from YouTube’s ad-supported service today while Google "makes hundreds of millions of dollars from the YouTube app on Roku."

Roku further claims that Google is interfering with Roku's "independent search results, requiring that we preference YouTube over other content providers," and that "Google discriminates against Roku by demanding search, voice, and data features that they do not insist on from other streaming platforms."

Protocol reported earlier that the stalemate was also partly due to Google's desire to boost hardware adoption of AV1, an open course coded backed by tech giants such as Google, Netflix, Apple and Amazon.

'Putting customers in the middle'

Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert who's also a principal analyst at Frost & Sullivan, argued on Twitter that both companies are in the wrong by "putting customers in the middle."

The impasse will "probably force some government intervention, which Roku wants, but is bad for everyone involved," he added. Rayburn also called on both sides to make the details behind the agreement public:

Update: Roku appears to be getting some of the attention it's seeking. US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who is also chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, issued a statement Thursday that seemed to favor Roku's position on the issue.

"Roku's claim that Google requires the company to preference YouTube content over that of other providers in Roku's search results highlights why we need new laws to prevent dominant digital platforms from abusing their power as gatekeepers," Klobuchar wrote. "For too long, the big tech platforms have leveraged their power to preference their products and services over those of thousands of smaller online businesses."

She added that experience has shown that "we can't rely on these companies to act fairly in the marketplace," pointing to the recent introduction of legislation with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that will "set rules of the road to make this type of anticompetitive conduct illegal to prevent harm to businesses and consumers online."

That legislation, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, aims to prevent "dominant digital platforms" from abusing their market power to harm competition, online business and consumers.

This latest turn comes about almost six months after Roku purged the YouTube TV app from its channel store after the last deal expired (Roku users who had downloaded and installed the YouTube TV app before the purge still have access).

If a new deal is not struck for the core YouTube app before the December deadline, consumers who buy a Roku player or Roku TV on or after that date will be unable to access YouTube or the YouTube TV service that's been woven in.

Google later developed a technical workaround that enabled access to the YouTube TV service from within the core YouTube app.

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While that would impact only a fraction of Roku's base of active users, which stood at 55.1 million at the end of Q2 2021, it would set another troublesome precedent for the ever-evolving and important streaming platform market. And it would come at a particularly bad time for Roku – right in the middle of the holiday buying season.

Plus, competition in the streaming platform market has never been so heated. In addition to grappling with Google (Android TV and Google TV), Amazon (Fire TV), Apple (tvOS), Samsung (Tizen), LG Electronics (webOS) and Vizio in the streaming platform market, Roku is also about to face some fresh competition from Comcast as the cable operator/media giant starts to sell its new family of XClass TV-branded, 4K-capable sets nationwide at Walmart stores and at Walmart.com

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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