Google is pulling its popular YouTube video service from Amazon’s Fire TV and Echo Show devices in an escalating feud that has caught consumers in the crossfire.
Google says the decision to block YouTube is retaliation for Amazon’s refusal to sell some Google products that compete with Amazon gadgets.
That includes Google’s Chromecast streaming device, an alternative to Fire TV, and an internet-connected speaker called Home, which is trying to catch up to Amazon’s market-leading Echo.
Amazon’s high-end Echo Show has a screen that can display video, and was able to use YouTube until today
Google is hoping to pressure Amazon into selling Google’s products.
‘We’ve been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other’s products and services,’ the firm said.
‘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, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV.
‘We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon.’
Amazon also has rankled Google by declining to sell an internet-connected thermostat made by Nest, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., like Google.
Amazon has refused to sell Google’s Chromecast streaming device, an alternative to Fire TV,
Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Google is hoping to pressure Amazon into selling Google’s products by taking away access to the world’s most widely watched video service.
Unless a truce is reached, YouTube will stop working on Fire TV on Jan. 1.
YouTube was supposed to disappear from the Echo Show Tuesday, although Amazon has previously found ways to make unauthorized versions of YouTube available on that device.
The dispute between Amazon and Google mirrors the face-offs that occasionally crop up between pay-TV providers and TV networks when it comes time to re-negotiate their deals.
But in this instance, the two tech heavyweights aren’t fighting over licensing fees. Instead, they are jockeying to position their gadgets and, by extension, their digital services into homes as internet-connected appliances and devices become more deeply ingrained in people’s lives.
The battle also highlights the power that the world’s major technology companies are gaining as they dominate important corners of commerce and communications.
As the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon has tremendous sway over what people buy, while the results delivered by Google’s ubiquitous search engine often help determine what people do on and off the web.
Besides withholding Chromecast and the Home speaker from its store, Amazon also has rankled Google by declining to sell an internet-connected thermostat made by Nest, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc.
Amazon also doesn’t allow its Prime video streaming service on Chromecast, an omission that Google wants to change.
Earlier this year Amazon said that its Echo Show devices could no longer play videos from YouTube because the site’s parent, Google, stopped supporting the service.
While Amazon claimed that there is ‘no technical reason’ for the decision, Google says that Amazon’s use of YouTube on the Echo Show created a ‘broken user experience.’
The Echo Show had displayed YouTube videos without integral features, from video recommendations to channel subscriptions.