Leaked Email Allegedly Shows That Google Did Ask Roku For Special Treatment For YouTube (9to5google.com) 35
Yesterday, Roku told customers that it's unable to strike a deal to bring YouTube and YouTube TV apps to its channel store, citing anti-competitive demands in carriage agreements. These included "asking Roku to create a dedicated search results row for YouTube within the Roku smart TV interface and demanding certain features on Roku that they don't insist on getting from other streaming platforms," reports Axios. Now, a leaked email has surfaced allegedly showing that Google did in fact ask Roku for special search treatment for YouTube, an allegation that Google had previously called "baseless." 9to5Google reports: CNBC reports that an email from a Google executive to Roku called a "dedicated shelf for [YouTube] search results" a "must." The email was sent in 2019, well before the current fight between the two companies went public. Prior to this report, Roku has said on multiple occasions that "Google continues to interfere with Roku's independent search results." Google, in response, has denied those allegations and called them "baseless" while also claiming that it was Roku who decided to renegotiate the contract between the two companies. A previous statement from Google reads: "To be clear, we have never, as they have alleged, made any requests to access user data or interfere with search results. This claim is baseless and false."
This email puts the statements of both companies in a new light. It's possible Google did end up dropping this request between when the email was sent in 2019 and when the contract negotiations started, but it's also very possible the company is bending the truth around this request. Whatever the case, Google said that it "never" made such a request, but this email allegedly proves otherwise. ["The email from the Google executive to Roku reads: 'YouTube Position: A dedicated shelf for YT search results is a must,'" reports CNBC.]
This email puts the statements of both companies in a new light. It's possible Google did end up dropping this request between when the email was sent in 2019 and when the contract negotiations started, but it's also very possible the company is bending the truth around this request. Whatever the case, Google said that it "never" made such a request, but this email allegedly proves otherwise. ["The email from the Google executive to Roku reads: 'YouTube Position: A dedicated shelf for YT search results is a must,'" reports CNBC.]
Don't be evil (Score:3)
What they mean is "Don't be merely evil, be beyond evil". It's like "to serve man"
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Came here to post this, but got beat to the punch. Trusting Google these days is a mistake -- maybe it was always so.
They'll say the executive went rogue (Score:2)
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Does anyone know where cousin Greg is?
Re: Corporatists (Score:2)
O wouldn't say the left loves them. It's more that the left dislikes the religious right a lot more than they dislike billionaires and megacorps. You see, megacorps can be shitty, but they usually don't go out of their way to make laws, with all that ensues, for the specific, deliberate purpose of causing the people and things the left cares about to suffer, so on balance these end up being the lesser of two evils.
Re: Corporatists (Score:2)
Yes, megacorps make laws, but those are of the greedy type, that is, they want to rich. The religious right, in contrast, likes to make laws designed to save your soul. Those tend to include punishments for lots of victimless crimes, for example.
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All these woke tech companies are globalists and corporatists. And the left worships them. Just greedy shitheads out to make a buck no matter what it takes.
So far today I've heard that 'leftists' are all communistic socialists who'll do anything for a buck, especially if it )(...somehow?!) involves those social media companies that bring them a never-ending stream of right-wing misinformation.
You're tripping over your own laziness.
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Did anyone doubt it? (Score:1)
I don't see how Roku can exist. (Score:2)
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Re: I don't see how Roku can exist. (Score:2)
What a nonsense. I watch Youtube on TV all the time. Tell me, you also don't stream Netflix, HBO, or Prime on TV only because you can't key in a query in the search box using a Roku remote? By the way, 90% of time, I first find what I want on YouTube using my smartphone, then cast it to TV's YouTube app.
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The negotiations are over Youtube TV, which is not the same as Youtube. Youtube TV is a paid service.
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The negotiations are over Youtube TV
Not this time. This time it's over the YouTube app itself. The previous flare up between Google and Roku was over the YouTube TV app.
So Google lied (Score:2)
Is anyone surprised?
Is anti-trust still a thing in the US? Are all regulators bought out by Google already?
That's the norm in the streaming industry (Score:3)
Try to find a smart TV remote without a Netflix button, think that's just a simple convenience to the user? Nope, Netflix makes a remote button and other concessions such as always running Netflix app on background for instant startup a condition of allowing access to their content. There are many great projectors that run everything but Netflix because smaller manufacturers were not able to pander enough to make a deal happen.
That goes in both directions. The reason Roku sticks/TV are so cheap is because of all the deals to preinstall or feature certain apps. Whoever is a bigger player gets a better deal. Although this may feel underhanded at the first glance, that's what gets you an $40 4K streaming stick or $400 65 inch TV. And if you are missing one app because of a spat between companies, you can always get another cheap HDMI dongle to access it until they hash things out.
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Hmm, my Netflix doens't start instantly on my Roku, and it's not even faster at starting than Youtube.
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At least on Android it shows this error if it's not preloaded, have not looked into Roku internals in terms of whether hardware or OS can even handle background processes.
https://help.netflix.com/en/no... [netflix.com]
Stay strong, Roku (Score:3)
The ads on Rokus are already annoying enouhg... I'll be a lot less likely to buy more Roku devices if they give non-removable priority placement to any of the companies like Google.
Re: Stay strong, Roku (Score:2)
You want a 29 dollar streaming stick to have no ads or priority placement from third parties? Yeah right. I feel comfortable enough with my Roku Express. Yeah, it has ads, but usually not in your face.
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About a year later when my niece and nephew were visiting and insisted I install YouTube on the Roku for them, I figured out what was going on. If you haven't used the YouTube app in a while, Google doesn't show you as many
Google's answer to this will be denial (Score:2)
Google's answer will be that they didn't interfere in Roku's own search results. That the email clearly shows that they didn't ask for Roku to do anything to their own search results, merely give Google's prominence over Roku's.
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Google's answer will be that they didn't interfere in Roku's own search results. That the email clearly shows that they didn't ask for Roku to do anything to their own search results, merely give Google's prominence over Roku's.
That kind of language parsing is similar to saying, "It depends on the definition of 'is".
It's too clever for half the people to understand, too silly for the other half to believe, and wrong enough that no one will be tricked by it.
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Google's answer was already to deny something different.
Google Sucks (Score:2)
Just throwing this out there. Google kinda sucks now....that is all.
Same old s**t.... (Score:1)
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