Google has integrated its pay streaming television service YouTube TV directly within the native YouTube app on Roku devices, the company announced in a statement on Friday.
The integration comes as Google and Roku prepare to continue their carriage dispute over the YouTube TV app for a second week.
Late last month, Roku told customers that Google might pull its YouTube TV app from Roku’s app store once its carriage deal with the company expired on April 30.
At the time, Roku said the issue involved non-financial terms that Google wanted to impose, including a demand that would force Roku to modify certain hardware in its streaming gadgets. Google later fired back, saying Roku was misconstruing their demands and engaging in heavy-handed tactics.
Roku eventually removed the YouTube TV app from its Channel Store, leaving customers with no way to install the service on Roku’s streaming boxes and smart TVs. The app was not removed from Roku devices where it was already installed, but Roku warned Google could eventually pull its support for existing installations at a later time.
On Friday, Google seemed to challenge the notion that they wanted to stop supporting YouTube TV on Roku altogether. Instead, Google says Roku users who subscribe to YouTube TV can now stream its channels through the native YouTube app, which is still available to download from the Roku Channel Store.
“This update will be available to all YouTube TV members on Roku over the next few days, and we will expand to as many devices as we can over time,” a YouTube TV spokesperson said in a note to customers. “We’re still working to come to an agreement with Roku to ensure continued access to the YouTube TV app for our mutual customers. As of right now, existing YouTube TV members still have access to the YouTube TV app on Roku devices.”
Google is also allowing Roku customers to “cast” YouTube TV using Apple Airplay 2 or Roku’s native casting protocol on devices that support either feature.
