A dispute between a streaming hardware company and a large technology giant has resulted in new users not being able to download the YouTube TV app.
What Happened: Roku Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) has pulled YouTube TV from its platform over a contract dispute with Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), according to Axios. The removal comes as a carriage agreement expired Friday.
“We are disappointed that Google has allowed our agreement for the distribution of YouTube TV to expire,” Roku said in a press release.
The YouTube TV channel is still available for existing subscribers on Roku. New users on Roku will not have the option to use the app. A prolonged dispute could force YouTube TV off its platform for good.
Related Link: Google Shares Rise On Revenue And Earnings Beat, $50B Buyback
Why It’s Important: There are disputes in the pay-television market frequently, according to Axios, and they’re normally resolved quickly after a removal happens.
The dispute between Roku and Google centers around non-money items.
“Roku has not asked for one dollar of additional financial consideration to renew YouTube Tv,” the company said.
Roku accused Google of preferential treatment requests. The streaming company also accused Google of anti-competitive practices, including manipulating consumer search results and access to data not used by other companies.
Google also tried to use its power to force Roku to accept hardware requirements that could increase consumer costs, according to Roku.
“We’re disappointed that they chose to make baseless claims while we continue our ongoing negotiations,” a YouTube TV spokesperson said.
Price Action: Shares of Roku are down 3% to $345.88 at publication time. Shares of Alphabet are down 0.3% to $2,422.36.
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