Roku today was forced to remove YouTube TV from its Channel Store when its carriage agreement with the live, streamer’s owner, Google, expired. However, Roku customers who previously downloaded the YouTube TV app can continue to use it.
The dispute between the companies does not affect Roku’s carriage of Google’s free, user-generated video service, YouTube.
The standoff was expected after Roku earlier this week sent an e-mail to subscribers warning them that it might have to remove YouTube TV. The device maker accused Google of anti-competitive practices, suggesting it was requiring Roku to manipulate its search results to help the streaming service. Google denied the charge.
Roku today said in a statement that it has not asked Google for a fee increase to carry YouTube TV.
“We are disappointed that Google has allowed our agreement for the distribution of YouTube TV to expire,” the company said. “Roku has not asked for one dollar of additional financial consideration from Google to renew YouTube TV.”
Google has yet to issue a statement today in response to the blackout. Earlier in the week, the company said this:
“We’re disappointed that they chose to make baseless claims while we continue our ongoing negotiations. All of our work with them has been focused on ensuring a high quality and consistent experience for our viewers. We have made no requests to access user data or interfere with search results. We hope we can resolve this for the sake of our mutual users.”
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— Phillip Swann
