From the article:<p>> The fight between the two companies centers on a 2019 agreement to allow YouTube TV on Roku. Roku said Google demanded special access to search data from Roku customers as a condition of allowing YouTube TV on Roku devices. Roku also said Google asked for prioritized search results for YouTube videos in Roku's search feature.<p>> Roku said it agreed to those terms, but also asked that Google not ask for any additional data. Google would not commit to that, according to Roku, and now both sides are at an impasse. Unless both companies come to an agreement before Dec. 9, YouTube's apps will disappear from Roku's app store.
My solution? Jellyfin and yt-dlp with an easy to use web ui -- <a href="https://github.com/alexta69/metube" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/alexta69/metube</a>
See also:<p>Roku tells customers it is unable to strike a deal with YouTube -- <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28943886" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28943886</a>
Few years ago when YouTube app was removed from Fire TV, it had turned out to be a major blessing in disguise.<p>It basically cured my kid’s addiction to YT’s junk/addictive content for young kids.<p>I’m sure this so benefit at least some people in a similar fashion.
Roku should do an official port of NewPipe(1) or SmartTubeNext (1) to its platform and install them by default.<p>(1) These are alternative YouTube clients that block youtube ads, and STN even has sponsorblock.
There needs to be ways ensuring that content remains a commodity and does not enable rent-seeking. Imagine where we would be today if each television station had it's own antenna and encoding just to seek more profit.
I've been waiting for a device to smarten up my TVs so the kids can stream on it but without YouTube. If google goes through with this I will buy some Rokus :)
The article says this is "the latest battle between a Big Tech giant and a smaller technology firm." Roku is a technology spin-off of Netflix that went public on its own and last year reported revenue of nearly a billion dollars.<p>Sure, Roku is "smaller" than Google, but I disagree with the characterization of Roku as some poor upstart that's getting ground underfoot by Big Tech.
Google at this point is just coasting along on its old reputation, while consistently behaving in a way one might expect from the Microsoft of old.<p>Doing a thing, getting called out, and then lying - only to get bitten by a leaked paper trail is such a Microsoft thing to do.
Roku could do the world a favor by featuring newer alternate video sharing platforms, particularly decentralized ones. It could also make it clear why they’re offering them and rally users to their support.
Too bad - after the YouTube app had silently disappeared from my Apple TV, I had to dig up my ancient Roku so I could continue to enjoy it. A mini-PC to the rescue, I guess…
So Google will have to tell their users to side-load the app on the Roku. Just like anyone booted from the Android App store. (yes, the Roku does have sideloading, though you can sideload only one app at a time.).