YouTube launches on Fire TV, ending dispute between Amazon and Google

Watching TV

filadendron | E+ | Getty Images

YouTube will launch on Amazon Fire TV devices on Tuesday. YouTube Kids and YouTube TV will launch later this year, Google said. Amazon Prime video will also be available on Google Chromecast products and Android TVs.

Google had originally promised to re-launch YouTube on the Fire TV in April after it pulled the app in December 2017 as competition between Google and Amazon began to heat up in the streaming space.

Amazon did not sell Google products, such as the Google Home speaker and Nest cameras, which compete with the Amazon Echo and Amazon's Ring cameras, respectively. Google decided to pull YouTube from Fire TV due to a "lack of reciprocity" from Amazon. Amazon still doesn't sell the Google Home, but it now sells Nest products.

A third-party YouTube app has been available on Fire TV devices, but it only brought users to YouTube's website and was not a full-featured experience. The new YouTube app will support streaming in 4K HDR and users can ask Alexa to play videos from the service or control content, for example.

YouTube will be available Tuesday on the Fire TV Stick, TV Cube and Toshiba, Element, Insignia and Westinghouse TVs with Amazon's Fire TV software installed.

Post a Comment

0 Comments