Youtube cutting access to Amazon Fire TV on January 1st

[LZTYBRN]

[QUOTE]If you've got an Amazon Fire TV, say goodbye to using it to watch YouTube.

The Google-owned video service is cutting access to the Amazon device on Jan. 1, a Google spokeswoman said on Tuesday. YouTube is also cutting access Tuesday for a second time to Amazon's Echo Show video device.

The moves signal that the ongoing battle between the world's biggest search engine and the world's largest online retailer may get messier in 2018.

"We've been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other's products and services," the Google spokeswoman said in a statement. "But Amazon doesn't carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest's latest products.

"Given this lack of reciprocity," she said. "We are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon."

Google and Amazon have been in an intensifying competition on multiple fronts, with Amazon pushing deeper into Google's turf of online advertising and Google moving into Amazon's territory of e-commerce and smart speakers. This competition over the years has spilled out into public view and often resulted in fewer options for customers. Still, it's unclear whether Google's latest move should be seen as a negotiating tactic by the search giant or a sign of more fighting between the two companies.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]Two years, ago, Amazon banned Google's Chromecast and Apple TV from its website, helping Amazon direct its customers toward its own Fire TV and away from competing devices. Amazon at the time said the move was to ensure its customers were buying the best devices for watching its Prime Video service and to help "avoid customer confusion."

Apple said earlier this year that Prime Video is coming to Apple TV. Prime Video isn't available on Google Chromecast or Android TV devices, but it is on mobile Android devices.[/QUOTE]

[URL="https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-to-cut-access-to-amazon-fire-tv-on-january-1-echo-show/"]source[/URL]

pretty fuckin ridiculous

[AmfleetII]

I've been pretty annoyed that I can't use Prime streaming on my Chromecast, but why take it out on the consumer?

[Harbie]

They're cutting it because Amazon refuses to make Prime Video available on Chromecast and is generally trying to avoid integrating Google products into their ecosystem.

[QUOTE]"We've been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other's products and services," the Google spokeswoman said in a statement. "But Amazon doesn't carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest's latest products.

"Given this lack of reciprocity," she said. "We are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon."[/QUOTE]

tl;dr Amazon started it but it's dumb that the two companies won't support each other's services. Looks like they're trying to get it resolved though.

[ThePanther]

Well, I guess it's backlash for amazon cutting out google on their shit.

[gk99]

[QUOTE=Amfleet;52949693]I've been pretty annoyed that I can't use Prime streaming on my Chromecast, but why take it out on the consumer?[/QUOTE]

Because by removing one of the bigger reasons to have their product, it cuts away their ground for negotiation.

Google can now just go "either start selling our shit again or we won't let you have YouTube"

[caseytube]

your source is wrong btw, i think you meant to link to [URL="https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-to-cut-access-to-amazon-fire-tv-on-january-1-echo-show/"]this[/URL]

[old_gus]

This sucks, YouTube was probably the most reliable thing to use on Fire TV if streaming was hogged up on the weekends.

I can't understand why taking the userbase hostage is their go-to; having to deal with one device instead of multiple, bloated services was the entire appeal in the first place. Good to know some resolution is happening, I guess.

[ThePanther]

Third party Roku for the win

[Harbie]

[QUOTE=leetnoobify;52949719]This sucks, YouTube was probably the most reliable thing to use on Fire TV if streaming was hogged up on the weekends.

I can't understand why taking the userbase hostage is their go-to; having to deal with one device instead of multiple, bloated services was the entire appeal in the first place. Good to know some resolution is happening, I guess.[/QUOTE]

Because there isn't really any other way to get Amazon to listen other than asking nicely? I'm sure they made it clear to Amazon before taking action that this would happen if they didn't allow Google services onto their platforms.

[XNiggerHunter88X]

Remember when the point of competition was to benefit the consumer?

[Danneh]

[QUOTE=Sam Za Nemesis;52949741]Since I have started using my Raspberry as a Kodi TV I haven't looked back at my Chromecast, having embedded proprietary solutions are awful because you can't change it when a service isn't/stopped being offered

I can have the best of both worlds, with Prime Video and Youtube casting and it works with my TV remote with CEC[/QUOTE]

Technically with the Fire TV you're not really locked in that much. You can use Downloader and enable unsigned packages to pretty much install anything available on Android, so you can get Kodi and another YouTube client.

[Harbie]

[QUOTE=djjkxbox;52949756]Technically with the Fire TV you're not really locked in that much.[/QUOTE]

I forgot Fire OS is Android based. The irony.

[Zillamaster55]

Granted my fire TV for some odd reason has YouTube chugging after only like an hour of use

[Tigster]

This is why I love my Nvidia Shield TV. I get Google applications, Amazon applications, and all of the other major streaming services, it plays a nice middle ground. We used to have both the Chromecast and Fire TV and having to switch back and forth just to cover all the ground is a complete pain.

[LZTYBRN]

[QUOTE=Gamerman12;52949709]your source is wrong btw, i think you meant to link to [URL="https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-to-cut-access-to-amazon-fire-tv-on-january-1-echo-show/"]this[/URL][/QUOTE]

thanks, fixed

[FlyingScotsman]

[QUOTE=Amfleet;52949693]I've been pretty annoyed that I can't use Prime streaming on my Chromecast, but why take it out on the consumer?[/QUOTE]

Mainly because the consumer will be forced to use alternative devices to achieve the same functionality (ala Chromecast) instead, so they hope that'll hurt Amazon enough for them to "think again" which is incredibly childish.

[1/4 Life]

Wow, Google's finally throwing their weight around. Amazon's deserved this for a long time now.

[Lollipoopdeck]

I have a shitty Fire tablet from like 2009 and haven't been able to afford a new one and I have to use shitty 3rd party youtube apps that don't remember where I scrolled too and I can't watch in fullscreen

THANKS AMAZON AND GOOGLE :)

[Mitsuma]

Not sure I will put this on YouTube.
Amazon is notorious for keeping their own stuff to their ecosystem.
Even if their versions are pretty shit they try to push that instead of integrating in better existing solutions.
Not that I ever had a problem paying with Amazon for example but why can't I just use PayPal there too.
The free games from Twitch Prime also all run over their own Twitch App instead of getting Steam keys.

[coup]

[QUOTE=Fapplejack;52949734]Remember when the point of competition was to benefit the consumer?[/QUOTE]

This is vertical integration for you. We used to tear apart companies for this, but over the last few decades it hasn't been enforced at all.

[1/4 Life]

[QUOTE=Lollipoopdeck;52949891]I have a shitty Fire tablet from like 2009 and haven't been able to afford a new one and I have to use shitty 3rd party youtube apps that don't remember where I scrolled too and I can't watch in fullscreen

THANKS AMAZON AND GOOGLE :)[/QUOTE]

Blame Amazon for not including Google Play Services and the Play Store with their builds of Android. They're basically useless unless you're deep in the Amazon ecosystem. Google would happily support that hardware if you installed Cyanogenmod or any other custom ROM for it.

[koeniginator]

[QUOTE=Fapplejack;52949734]Remember when the point of competition was to benefit the consumer?[/QUOTE]

but what theyre doing is anticompetitive, not competitive

[mark6789]

All Amazon products my family has owned over the years have had so many problems and turned to shit. Roku is the superior device followed by Chromecast.

[Cronos]

[QUOTE=Harbie;52949700]They're cutting it because Amazon refuses to make Prime Video available on Chromecast and is generally trying to avoid integrating Google products into their ecosystem.

tl;dr Amazon started it but it's dumb that the two companies won't support each other's services. Looks like they're trying to get it resolved though.[/QUOTE]

didn't Amazon give up when they refused to sell Apple stuff or show Prime Video on Apple TV?

[jordguitar]

[QUOTE=ThePanther;52949725]Third party Roku for the win[/QUOTE]

But the Roku UI sucks.
First world problems!

I will just use the Plex Youtube channel then (as long as it works).

[Silence]

[QUOTE]Apple said earlier this year that Prime Video is coming to Apple TV. Prime Video isn't available on Google Chromecast or [B]Android TV devices[/B], but it is on mobile Android devices.[/QUOTE]

This is wrong. Both of my Sony smart TVs running Android TV have operational Amazon Prime apps, and both stream regular and 4k content.

[MissingGlitch]

I never cared for the Amazon devices. The Fire TV stick UI is setup to do nothing but advertise Prime. And Alexa sounds like she has no personality.

[DokVis]

My FireTV stick is now useless again. Well, back to using a PS3

[waylander]

[QUOTE=Sam Za Nemesis;52949741]Since I have started using my Raspberry as a Kodi TV I haven't looked back at my Chromecast, having embedded proprietary solutions are awful because you can't change it when a service isn't/stopped being offered

I can have the best of both worlds, with Prime Video and Youtube casting and it works with my TV remote with CEC[/QUOTE]

I got a chomecast with Google home and it was really easy to use with local cast, recently though I noticed it lacks a lot of codec support so I went back to using a pi3

The pi can be really annoying some times, the interface is slow and it corrupts your SD card whenever it wants even if your careful about power cycling it

[TheSyntaX]

I bought FireTV recently but there is literally 0 content in Ireland (region locks and all that shit).
The only reason I bought it is to install Kodi on it and run/watch whatever the fuck I want.

I sometimes use amazon youtube app but my TV has youtube built in so that's not a problem.
I love amazon as a service in general but they can fuck off and I am glad google is removing youtube from them because selling FireTV in Ireland and not providing content for it for no reason whatsoever is fucking retarded.