Roku Drops YouTube TV App in Carriage Dispute

Roku and other streaming-device makers have become the streaming era’s gatekeepers, and spats with streaming services and live-TV internet bundles echo the carriage disputes between cable carriers and their channels. Roku is the largest streaming-device maker in the U.S., accounting for 38% of the U.S. streaming-media player market, according to research firm Parks Associates.

At the center of the dispute between Roku and YouTube TV’s parent, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, is the way search results are displayed on Roku’s platform, which Roku says Google is looking to manipulate—a claim that Google denies. Google also wants Roku to upgrade its hardware to accommodate larger memory requirements, less buffering and faster startup, according to people familiar with the matter.

“We have only asked Google for four simple commitments,” the Roku spokesman said. “First, not to manipulate consumer search results. Second, not to require access to data not available to anyone else. Third, not to leverage their YouTube monopoly to force Roku to accept hardware requirements that would increase consumer costs. Fourth, not to act in a discriminatory and anticompetitive manner against Roku.”

Google never “made any requests to access user data or interfere with search results,” the company said Friday. “This claim is baseless and false.”

Google also said it encouraged “Roku not to remove the YouTube TV app so that existing users can continue enjoying the service.”

Roku’s previous disputes with media companies have kept popular streaming apps off its platform. Last year, standoffs with Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal and AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia prevented Peacock and HBO Max from being available on Roku’s devices until months after their initial launch.

Write to Patience Haggin at [email protected]