Roku has shared concerns over its relationship with Google that has the potential to end with the removal of YouTube TV from the streaming platform.
In a blog post, Roku accused big tech of using their market power to extend control over independent businesses, like Roku, to benefit their broader business objectives at the expense of the consumer.
Since April, Roku has been discussing the renewal of its partnership with Google to continue to offer YouTube TV. The US cloud-based DVR platform remains on the Roku platform while Roku attempts “to resolve our concerns”.
Roku’s two concerns are around the presentation of search results, which it says Google wants to circumvent by placing YouTube over other content providers. “This is a concern shared by many companies who believe that customers deserve neutral and relevant results to their search queries,” says Roku.
The company also says Google is discriminating against it by demanding search, voice, and data features that they do not insist on from other streaming platforms.
A spokesperson for YouTube told Broadband TV News: “Since our negotiations with Roku earlier this year, we’ve continued to work with them to find a resolution that benefits our mutual users. 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.”
