YouTube returns to Amazon Fire TV devices following dispute
The YouTube app has returned to Amazon’s Fire TV streaming devices following the end of a dispute between the technology firms.
Starting today, it has been confirmed that the YouTube app will be once again available on Amazon’s streaming devices, with Amazon’s own Prime Video app now also being made accessible on YouTube owner Google’s Chromecast streaming devices and Android smart TVs.
The two companies had been at odds since late 2017 when Google claimed that the way Amazon was using YouTube on its Echo Show smart devices was against its terms of service.
Google also claimed there was a “lack of reciprocity” from Amazon over access to each other’s services, arguing Amazon did not offer a number of Google products to its own customers.
However, the launch of Prime Video on Google’s casting platforms alongside the return of YouTube to some Fire TV devices appears to have settled much of the dispute.
The stand-off between the two firms led to Google removing the YouTube app from Amazon devices in early 2018, while Amazon had previously stopped selling several Google hardware devices including audio streaming products and Nest smart home products.
Several of Google’s devices are rivals to Amazon’s Echo line of smart home products.
Amazon confirmed that the new version of the YouTube app would be available in the UK to users with the second generation Fire TV Stick and the Fire TV Stick 4K, and confirmed the number of compatible devices would expand “in the coming months”.
