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YouTube yanked from Amazon Fire TV four days early
The strained relationship between Google LLC and Amazon.com Inc. seems to be getting worse, as the YouTube app on Amazon’s Fire TV streaming device has been deactivated four days early.
Google had already pulled YouTube from Amazon Echo Show in September, and Google announced earlier this month that it would also be pulling YouTube from Fire TV. At the time, a Google spokesperson said that the move was prompted by Amazon’s “lack of reciprocity” toward Google’s products and services. The spokesperson noted that Amazon does not carry Chromecast, Google Home or newer Nest products, and that Amazon does not offer Prime Video support for Google Cast users.
For the last month, the Fire TV YouTube app has alerted users they will be unable to access the app starting on Jan. 1, but now it appears that the app has been pulled several days early.
Users who try to open the YouTube app instead see a message directing them to access YouTube through a web browser using either Firefox or Amazon’s new Silk browser app. It is unclear which company made the decision to deactivate the YouTube app before the original deadline.
Fire TV owners had hoped that Google and Amazon would be able to reach an agreement before the YouTube app would be removed, and there was some indication that the companies could be on the right track. Two weeks ago, Amazon started selling Google Chromecast for the first time in more than two years, addressing one of the reasons Google gave for pulling the YouTube app.
Photo: screenshot/Eric David
Both Google and Amazon have said that they hoped to resolve their issues soon, and a Google spokesperson recently told The Verge that the two companies have been engaged in “productive discussions.” However, Amazon has not revealed any plans to address Google’s other complaints, and the relationship between the companies may have been further soured by last week’s reports that Amazon had filed for a trademark for a possible YouTube competitor named “Amazontube.”
Google did not comment on the early removal of the YouTube app, and an Amazon spokesperson would only confirm that “YouTube and millions of other websites are accessible by using a web browser like Firefox or Silk on Fire TV.”
Photo: Amazon
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