back to article Tech giants at war: Google pulls plug on YouTube in Amazon kit

Google is trying to stop Amazon Echo Show devices from streaming YouTube videos – and from January, it will block Amazon’s Fire TVs from accessing the vid service, too. It appears the ad giant is killing off access to the YouTube app on Amazon's gadgets. From today, opening the YouTube application on an Echo Show or Fire TV …

  1. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Don't get worked up over each other

    Ajit Pai is going to let AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast block all of your traffic in the name of opening up competition, or whatever nonsense he gets bribed to say.

    1. L05ER

      Re: Don't get worked up over each other

      i'm actually surprised to find this kind of drivel here...

      we have to keep the recent changes (a power grab to legitimize an illegitimate decree) to make sure the web is as open as it ever was... how do more people not see this as complete bullshit? that all traffic should be treated equal? are you serious?!?!

      i paid for network priority for over a decade before anyone cared or saw it as a threat.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Don't get worked up over each other

        Pay it no mind, that's just spill-over from the latest El Reg hit piece on Pai (a very long series that seems to have gone bi-weekly, lately).

        I believe from the article quantity and the relentlessly negative tone, that the author really, really wants NN to be the law. It's not really right and wrong but almost Good vs Evil.

        But that tone pales in comparison to the posters' attitudes on those articles, oh my. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is commonly described as a "corporate whore" and that's just for warmups.

        So basically those posters are about 98% NN fanatics. I guess global warming just isn't sexy any more.

        1. Michael Habel

          Re: Don't get worked up over each other

          It's kinda hard to whinge on about how warm it is when your freezing your nuts off waiting to catch the Bus into Work, in the Morning. And not look like a complete douche while attempting to do so.

          1. Jamie Jones Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Re: Don't get worked up over each other

            It's kinda hard to whinge on about how warm it is when your freezing your nuts off waiting to catch the Bus into Work, in the Morning. And not look like a complete douche while attempting to do so."

            Wow! People that equate local weather with global temperature still exist?

            Call David Attenborough! He might be interested in doing a documentary on you.

        2. Lysenko

          Re: Don't get worked up over each other

          It's not really right and wrong but almost Good vs Evil.

          Ridiculous, isn't it? As if American party political discourse would ever degenerate into such a ludicrous dichotomy. They're only a few steps away from accusing Mr Pai of being "Crooked" or cheerleading mindless slogans like "Lock him up!". Obviously, this is absurdly antithetical to the reasoned and fair-minded debate that American politicians and their appointees universally and rigorously adhere to.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Don't get worked up over each other

          -- "Ajit Pai is commonly described as a corporate whore"

          What do you expect, he sucky sucky, 5mbps.. cable-brother too big!

          1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
            Joke

            Re: Don't get worked up over each other

            @AC

            "Ajit Pai is commonly described as a corporate whore"

            corporate whores may find that statement offensive

    2. Michael Habel

      Re: Don't get worked up over each other

      Flawed argument is seriously flawed... Or I must not live in the same dimension as the Op, where both Google, and Amazon. Live on the same plain as an AT&T, or Comcast. Which unlike them (Google, and Amazon), actually ARE ISPs.

      Sorry if I fail to equate AWS with an ISP. As far as Google Fiber goes... Call me back whenever the manage to gain any real traction with that. A few Poduck Towns exclusive to the USA does not an ISP on the level of the BIG BOYs make.

      But, hay don't let me disrupt your wonderful narrative....

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Don't get worked up over each other

      Presumably it's not exactly hard for Amazon to have their devices pretend to be say Android phones when accessing You Tube and side step this....

      1. Test Man

        Re: Don't get worked up over each other

        "Presumably it's not exactly hard for Amazon to have their devices pretend to be say Android phones when accessing You Tube and side step this...."

        Presumably Google isn't relying on the device's reporting capabilities to implement its block.

        1. Whitter
          Boffin

          How does it know?

          That was the same thinking I had. But poking about to surreptitiously ID a device type and discriminate against it? Sounds like a GDPR case in waiting.

          1. David Nash Silver badge

            Re: How does it know?

            It's a Google app, right? So the API must tell it what kind of device it's on, no?

            Hardly surreptitious. They said they will redirect users to the web page, so in theory still possible (although I don't think I've ever used a web page on my Fire stick, not sure if you can).

    4. Dr Stephen Jones
      FAIL

      Re: Don't get worked up over each other

      You missed the point.

      Google wants neutrality for everyone but itself. You've been played.

  2. H in The Hague

    Unintended consequences?

    Gosh, those two companies are such a lovely match!

    I’m no marketing expert, but it strikes me that, in the long term, making the lives of the buyers of their devices more difficult is only going to benefit a third party competitor (Apple or a new entrant to the market).

    1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Unintended consequences?

      It sounds like TECHEXIT to me ... I'm sure that after negotiating for two years, nothing will change.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Unintended consequences?

      a third party competitor (Apple or a new entrant to the market).

      You mean like Roku? They're not exactly a "new entrant," and frankly I find them to be better. I can watch both YouTube and Amazon Prime on it.

      1. Chemical Bob

        Re: Unintended consequences?

        Once Google and Amazon realize their little pissy-fit is helping Roku they'll both ban access from Roku devices to their services. This is what is known as a level playing field.

        1. Kiwi
          Mushroom

          Re: Unintended consequences?

          This is what is known as a level playing field.

          You mean something like M.A.D? (Only that levels the playing field. And the city. And the rest of the country.....

          1. Chemical Bob
            Joke

            Re: Unintended consequences?

            Such a level-headed individual...

  3. Wade Burchette

    Love the Hendrix reference

    That is all.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Love the Hendrix reference

      Headline was:

      "Google has but one burning desire: Let them ban access to Fire... Oh move over rover, and let Mountain View take over"

      but... some killjoy (cough, me) changed it. Mainly because it's Google pulling access, rather than Amazon banning, and I didn't want the headache of explaining the lyric to either side's PR people.

      C.

      1. Mark 85
        Pint

        Re: Love the Hendrix reference

        Thanks for the ear bug... Just what I needed today.

        1. Michael Habel

          Re: Love the Hendrix reference

          At least they didn't tie the rhyme to Last Christmas, by Wham...

          1. sabroni Silver badge

            Re: Love the Hendrix reference

            Who's Hendrix?

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              sorry people, had to give him the upvote, you clearly forgot it's the reg, where "fake" is actually real fake, and vice-versa ...

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              @ sabroni

              haha... you kids today. ;)

            3. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              > Who's Hendrix?

              I think he's the lute player from the Asterix The Gaul stories.

            4. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              > Who's Hendrix?

              Was. Sort of like this Taylor Swift gal, except that Hendrix was male, from a minority, and could actually play an instrument (badly, but he could, at least when he wasn't too out of his head).

              But that's from a time when autotune had not been invented yet.

              Now excuse me, while I kiss this guy.

              1. Michael Habel

                Re: Love the Hendrix reference

                Badly? Ok your free to go now.... And, not to ever darken our Door again.

          2. Teiwaz

            Re: Love the Hendrix reference

            At least they didn't tie the rhyme to Last Christmas, by Wham...

            Tis the season an all that....

            At this point it's a close odds toss up whether the 'high suicide rate' at xmas isn't more related to the constant repeat of the shortlist of current 'in fashion' xmas pop absolutely every shop is playing.

            1. lglethal Silver badge
              Megaphone

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              "At this point it's a close odds toss up whether the 'high suicide rate' at xmas isn't more related to the constant repeat of the shortlist of current 'in fashion' xmas pop absolutely every shop is playing."

              Having worked in a department store one Christmas where they played the "Mariah Carey's Christmas Carols" album on repeat for the entire month of December - i can certainly attest to the effect of this Inhumane Treatment (and I suspect breach of the geneva convention) on workers sanity's. Admittedly, I was closer to going homicidal rather than suicidal, but I'd hardly consider that being in my right mind.... (and thankfully I dont live in the US where fulfilling those homicidal tendencies would have been significantly easier to accomplish!)

              1. JimboSmith Silver badge

                Re: Love the Hendrix reference

                Having worked in a department store one Christmas where they played the "Mariah Carey's Christmas Carols" album on repeat for the entire month of December - i can certainly attest to the effect of this Inhumane Treatment (and I suspect breach of the geneva convention) on workers sanity's. Admittedly, I was closer to going homicidal rather than suicidal, but I'd hardly consider that being in my right mind.... (and thankfully I dont live in the US where fulfilling those homicidal tendencies would have been significantly easier to accomplish!)

                Spare a thought for the people working at the Harrods Christmas card department. They used to open the department in something like June due to foreign customer demand. They used to suffer/enjoy Christmas hits for 6 months at a time. I believe they got permission to change this one year after it was driving the staff nuts.

                I actually walked out of a shop who skipped The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York when it was midway through the intro, onto Mariah Carey - All I Want.

            2. IsJustabloke

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              @Teiwaz

              As a sufferer of depression and having known people who have attempted (and succeeded in one case) suicide, I always enjoy ignorant twunts like you trivializing suicide.

              1. elip

                Re: Love the Hendrix reference

                @IsJustabloke

                As someone who has attempted and failed, and continues to ponder suicide-as-the-only-option daily, I have no issue with Teiwaz or anyone else trivializing suicide. Lets stop pretending like death (no matter the method), and life for that matter, is sacred. Everything's a joke.

                1. Michael Habel

                  Re: Love the Hendrix reference

                  @elip

                  You sir are correct as the Pythons once remarked, we must always look on the bright side of life...

              2. Kiwi
                Thumb Down

                Re: Love the Hendrix reference

                @Teiwaz

                As a sufferer of depression and having known people who have attempted (and succeeded in one case) suicide, I always enjoy ignorant twunts like you trivializing suicide.

                Downvote because my life has given me plenty of reason to try to end it (yes, some of those things are my own fault), and I've lost a couple of very good friends to it over time.

                Sometimes making light of things gives us something to laugh at and takes away some of the pain associated with these things.

                So thanks for bringing some darkness back into this world where someone else intended laughter. Bloody well done.

                1. Kiwi

                  Re: Love the Hendrix reference

                  "So thanks for bringing some darkness back into this world where someone else intended laughter. Bloody well done."

                  Was just a moment to late to edit to add that at this time of year that the terrible noise you can't escape from has often brought me closer to ending my life.

            3. Michael Habel

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              ~Tis the season an all that....

              At this point it's a close odds toss up whether the 'high suicide rate' at xmas isn't more related to the constant repeat of the shortlist of current 'in fashion' xmas pop absolutely every shop is playing.~

              Except who actually still bothers to schelp their butts to the Mall anymore? I thought us really clever People let Santa Team c/o DHL do the Shopping for us... From the comfort of our comfie chairs.

            4. Kiwi
              Angel

              Re: Love the Hendrix reference

              At this point it's a close odds toss up whether the 'high suicide rate' at xmas isn't more related to the constant repeat of the shortlist of current 'in fashion' xmas pop absolutely every shop is playing.

              Was thinking while out shopping just an hour ago that next week I'll need a set of large over-ear headphones. Problem is, to buy them I have to enter another shop.

              I second the idea that this repetitive crap (and not "recent" music either, some of the people behind that stuff have been dead for decades (and some of the original songs go back centuries!) in the shops and on radio every few minutes and on tv (made the mistake of watching 10 mintues of live TV the other night, bloody AWFUL!) must push not just the suicide rates but road rage, domestic violence and other things through the roof. Bad enough that we have the other pressures of this time of year without that stuff as well.

              I would vote for a couple of law changes. 1) christmas "music" can only be played on December 25th, and not after 7pm. 2) Any broadcaster playing such songs must have the person who opted to play that song restrained with a gun pointed at their head, electrical current attached to their testicles, and their hand glued to the trigger. The song they chose to inflict on the rest of us must be repeated to them 10 times in quick succession while the current to the knackers is steadily increased. If they reach the end without pulling the trigger (either to make the noise go away or out of convulsion from the current) then they can air said song. Oh, and the final stages of the current must be high enough to ensure that they will never breed again. Because if someone can listen to that 10 times, we don't want them in the gene pool.

              The second song they want to play must have a linked gun pointed at any of their loved ones. 3rd one the gun automatically fires at the merest suggestion of it.

              Set the gun up right and they can listen to their favourite xmas1 songs till their ears bleed.

              1 "x" coz I'd not sully the Name of Christ by association with this stuff (kinda sad when you consider I sully His Name by association with me! :( )

              1. Steve 114

                Re: Love the Hendrix reference

                In Tesco yesterday, they were playing 'Adeste Fideles' in proper Latin - we aren't allowed that even in Church here.

      2. Jeffrey Nonken

        Re: Love the Hendrix reference

        "I didn't want the headache of explaining the lyric to either side's PR people."

        Oh come now. Corporate lawyers are known for their senses of humor!

  4. dougal83

    Stupidity on a grand scale

    I'm one of those people they are annoying. I would have a prime subscription right now if it would cast to my Chromecast ultra. Win for both parties. Guess it's Netflix and YouTube for me then. GG Amazon.

    1. Drat

      Re: Stupidity on a grand scale

      Having an Amazon Prime subscription I am much much more likely to buy stuff through Amazon. I am also more likely to keep my Prime subscription if I can cast Prime Video through my chromecast (80% of our TV watching is through the chromecast). We did get a fire stick but the interface is so clunky compared to using a phone we can't be bothered to use it.

      I _probably_ won't drop Amazon Prime due to no chromecast support, but it does annoy the hell out of me

  5. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    Remove Google from Services!!

    Finally we know why Bezos wants to build ICBMs and deliver "packages" by drone.

    Google: Scheduled for termination!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More of a loss for Google

    Since Google loses some number of youtube eyeballs staring at their increasingly intrusive ads (now sometimes stacking up 3 deep before the free customer created vid appears).

    Seems more like Google is just getting a twist in their tighty whiteys over youtube's failure to bring in channel income (the for pay channels) vs. Amazon Prime and NetFlix.

    Though I don't really see why Amazon wouldn't peddle Google's hardware... money is money, and if your product can't compete, well, maybe one should take the hint. Or maybe up the grease ante with Pai so that the high bidder can buy all the bandwidth and leave nothing for anyone else.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: More of a loss for Google

      Because whoever owns the home spy box owns the consumer

      This is a war between Amazon Echo and Google Home, Apple aren't even on the horizon

      1. bazza Silver badge

        Re: More of a loss for Google

        And it’s seems that Echo has been a bit of a success, whilst whatever it is that Google are offering gets a market “Meh”.

        That’s based on the fact that I know several people with the Echo, and no one at all with Google’s (ie a very scientific and objective measurement...).

        So Amazon are winning it, Google aren’t. Kinda makes sense; you can’t really buy stuff from Google like you can from Amazon. Amazon has stuff sell, google don’t.

        Google are like “yes you can buy from us, well really it’s a targeted search system not a buying system, we’ll cream off the top but any purchase is between you and the vendor leave us out of it don’t come to us when they’ve pinched your money and posted you a picture of a cabbage instead of the 1TB SSD you ordered no we don’t have our own distribution centres your items will all be delivered separately”.

        Google are trying to get to the top of the market the lazy way, ie not having physical presences anywhere other than data centres. It shows. A mate has a Pixel phone, he cracked the glass, but there is no (or was not, may have changed now) spares distribution system or repair network he can go to to get it fixed (it’ll probalably be a market stand job). If it were Apple or Samsung there’d be no problem. Both are in the business of selling hardware and have the supporting infrastructure to suit.

        1. se99paj

          Re: More of a loss for Google

          From my perspective Amazon are winning for different reasons - Everyone I know that has an Echo is also an Apple fan, generally these people wouldn't consider a Google product. Apple fans also tend to have money to burn so they're happy to buy the latest gadget.

          I'm struggling to justify why I would want any of these products, its quicker for me to add something into my phone myself then try and get an assistant to do it for me, I really don't have a desire to buy goods from Amazon using voice, I prefer to see what I'm buying first.

          1. Muscleguy

            Re: More of a loss for Google

            Seems to me these things are for people who use Amazon like or as a supermarket. I don't do that and can spend a month of more without going near their website even. I also like buying from non Amazon sites, even and especially stuff I buy regularly having originally found it on Amazon. Out of a matter of principle more than anything else.

            I do not wish to live in a world where the only place to buy anything will be Amazon. Though other are fighting, our Sainsbury's got 'revamped' (horrible daylight lighting, fewer aisles, fewer shelves, less variety) including an Argos local. That will be the competition. Advantage being a local physical place you can return the item to.

    2. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: More of a loss for Google

      There's ads on youtube?

      Oh, you must be one of those people who don't use an ad blocker.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: More of a loss for Google

        > There's ads on youtube?

        > Oh, you must be one of those people who don't use an ad blocker.

        "You pay in shops? Oh, you must be one of those people that doesn't sneak past when no-one is looking."

        1. Kiwi

          Re: More of a loss for Google

          "You pay in shops? Oh, you must be one of those people that doesn't sneak past when no-one is looking."

          A lot of cafe's here in NZ in recent times have these large TV screens up showing some advertising channel.

          I've already paid thanks. I hope you notice that I'm not the only one who's arranged seating so our table is sitting with our backs to the screen. Even if 3 or us are along one side.

          Besides, youtube ads cost the company money. I only shop at places I don't see on there (not that my wallet opens wide enough to make a noticeable blip in their turnover)

        2. phuzz Silver badge

          Re: More of a loss for Google

          "You pay in shops? Oh, you must be one of those people that doesn't sneak past when no-one is looking."

          I get what you're saying, these fine upstanding companies have paid money to google with the assurance that their adverts will be shown to someone. If I adblock them, then presumably google still take their cash, but don't even have to cover the bandwidth of showing me the video.

          Mind you, by that logic, if I walked out of the room when the ads were playing, I'd also be stealing? Adblocking is just a technical replacement for me shutting my eyes and sticking my fingers in my ears while the ads play.

          1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

            Re: More of a loss for Google

            The thing is, aren't you just tired of sanctmonious posts from people who use adblockers, as if they are some whizzo new thing that no-one else could master?

            I can guarantee that the person who moaned about the adverts in the original post has heard of ad-blockers, and knows how to install and use them.

            Every time someone mentions an ad, someone chimes in about ad blockers... This is 'el reg. we are techie people here. we gettit, ok?

      2. Kiwi

        Re: More of a loss for Google

        Oh, you must be one of those people who don't use an ad blocker.

        More and more of the ads are becoming an non-skippable part of the video stream these days.

        Which of course makes spewtube more and more annoying, which makes them less and less worth visiting.

  7. Mephistro
    Thumb Up

    Two monopolistic behemoths ...

    ... fighting in the mud! Who needs to pay for streaming video when there's this entertainment available for free?

    ;^)

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: Two monopolistic behemoths ...

      @Mephistro

      ... fighting in the mud! Who needs to pay for streaming video when there's this entertainment available for free?

      Cue, videos of mud wrestling videos. Alexa & Siri v Assistant

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You don't OWN anything if you rely on their services

    You are renting these devices - they can turn off whatever they like when they like.

    Just because yiu gave your hard earned cash to these billion-dollar tax-dodging data-slurping maggots, doesn't in their mind entitle you to expect it to keep working.

    If you buy a cloud dependant kit or a 'smart' TV or always-on snooping device in your home, the only thing they are interested is you as a revenue stream mainly via advertising.

  9. Timmy B

    Not quite sure what you mean about Nest...

    There is a whole load of Nest stuff showing when I search Amazon including items "Recommended By Amazon". This is a pest, though as one of the reasons I have a Fire TV stick is to watch YouTube. Not the end of the world as I got the Fire for free.

  10. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

    Over at Ars there was a recent article reviewing the latest Roku offering and they were a bit hard on the device. Maybe now is the time to remind people how useful service agnostic devices are.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'd love to agree - that's why I bought a Roku streaming stick a few years back and why I want another one. You can get all the services on a single, cheap device which allows you to really shop around for which services you want to subscribe to. However, in the UK at least Roku have virtually pulled out; none of their latest generation products are officially available and the grey-market imports you can get don't support important local services like BBC iPlayer. Instead Roku make the locked down, completely crippled NowTV box for Rupert Murdoch. Such a shame.

      1. ridley

        I have seen this story before, now where/when was it?

        Ahh I know, it was when Sky shafted TIVO in the UK. Such a shame I still miss my MK1 TIVO. In fact I think I have a refurbished one in the loft.

    2. Michael Kean

      Yes. A laptop or PC connected to a TV is perhaps the most service agnostic option these days. Not the nicest interface perhaps, and having a keyboard / mouse combo is a bit much on the coffee table, but at least it works.

      1. Kiwi
        Pirate

        Not the nicest interface perhaps, and having a keyboard / mouse combo is a bit much on the coffee table, but at least it works.

        VNC is your friend.

        At a mate's place his media machine runs a VNC server (x11vnc in case anyone's interested, invoked from a startup script as "x11vnc --bg --forever" (--bg means it continues in the background and --forever means it doesn't quit when the first connection cuts out). He can control it from his desktop that sits beside his couch anyway.

        And I can control it from my tablet with a VNC client on there. You can do it with slide the mouse around, with gestures, or with where you touch is what you click options - depending more on the client than the server. Not the greatest, but it works and I spend no more than a few seconds selecting a movie while the popcorn is getting ready....

        If you use Kodi, that has a semi-reasonable web interface available.

  11. anthonyhegedus Silver badge

    Send in our govt!

    I've got a solution... send in our conservative government. Theresa May and her crack team of expert negotiators will settle it for Amazon, Google AND Apple. They'll come up with a simple, fair and equitable solution that'll keep everyone happy. It'll mean future decades of happiness for everyone.

    1. Adam 52 Silver badge

      Re: Send in our govt!

      Unfortunately Theresa May's solution will be to give both Google and Amazon £50bn, and then fail to come to an agreement because the Kodu team raised an objection at the last minute.

      1. Gary Lloyd 1
        Joke

        Re: Send in our govt!

        No sarcasm icon? how will people recognise it as such?

    2. DavCrav

      Re: Send in our govt!

      "I've got a solution... send in our conservative government. Theresa May and her crack team of expert negotiators will settle it for Amazon, Google AND Apple. They'll come up with a simple, fair and equitable solution that'll keep everyone happy. It'll mean future decades of happiness for everyone."

      They can have YouTube and watch it.

    3. Teiwaz

      Re: Send in our govt!

      I've got a solution... send in our conservative government. Theresa May and her crack team of expert negotiators will settle it for Amazon, Google AND Apple. They'll come up with a simple, fair and equitable solution that'll keep everyone happy. It'll mean future decades of happiness for everyone.

      They'll only claim they're getting everything they want out of the negotiations right up to halfway through Questions in the House when it'll eventually come out they sold out the entire country for a free poggle from Amazon and a reseller contract to hoke the last of Britains infrastructure exclusively through Amazon and Google are getting the souls of the entire population and their children and childrens children for eternity....

    4. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      Re: Send in our govt!

      Only if the DUP agrees

  12. Christopher Rogers

    If things are so bad, why did Amazon suddenly add chromcast support to Amazon Music?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Oooh didn't know that - thanks for the tip! Android-only and music-only for the moment, but hopefully a step in the right direction. iOS and video support next would be great...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One winner

    This is a fight that'll have only one winner.

    If you've got young children, YouTube is the default viewing tool for kids, both for education and entertainment. If you like funny cat videos, YouTube is the place to go. If you just even sometimes want to watch a random 'how to' video, it's YouTube.

    Amazon will swiftly learn that a device is only as good as the content it lets you access.

    1. Tom 38

      Re: One winner

      Amazon will swiftly learn that a device is only as good as the content it lets you access.

      Seriously? Fire gives you access to Prime video, where you get curated 4k HDR video with no ads, whilst youtube gives you deliberately badly cropped video - I think to avoid copyright complaints - and 5 ads in a 30 minute show, and that is when the piece is not geoblocked and is actually the thing you are searching for and not some clip show of content designed to pull in ad impressions.

      Youtube might have (mostly) everything but its quality is dire.

      1. chipbutty

        Re: One winner

        Not so fast.

        I have Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Netflix, Youtube Red (and probably others I've forgotten to cancel). I only pay for Red to get rid of the ads on all my devices - that totally changed the Youtube experience.

        I get 4k HD video with no ads from Youtube (not all my channel subscriptions are 4k - but they are all at least 1080p) and the ability to download videos for offline viewing is a godsend when you're always in the air. On Prime the only shows I wanted were unavailable to download. I don't think I've watched an hour of Prime video since last winter but I keep it for the free Amazon shipping.

        Youtube has a vast amount of crap, but there are plenty of gems in there too; content you would never see on mainstream TV because it's a niche/specialist topic.

    2. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

      Re: One winner

      'Random how to',.... it's my go to resource, several plumbing problems have been solved at Casa McPugh thanks to YouTube, my downstairs bog stopped flushing, a quick check on YT, and a part that was less than three quid from eBay, and it was fixed. When I replaced the mixer tap in the kitchen, quick review of do's and don'ts (neat tip about tightening the tap down, putting the tap at 90 degrees, then twisting it straight to cinch the last part, rather than struggling underneath with a spanner, then hook up the tails, saved a massive b*ll ache working in a tight space) saved the day.

      Nearly bought a 7" Fire tab in the Black Friday sales,.... would be totally peeved if YT didn't work on it.

      1. Haku

        Re: One winner

        'Random how to'

        Indeedy, YT is an amazing resource in that respect, brilliant for when you want to take a laptop apart because more often than not someone's kindly made a video which gives you an insight to what parts are stuck together and in which order to take them apart so you don't end up breaking bits.

        The same when you're interested in product XYZ, people love to show off their new toys & gadgets so you get to see an end user playing with it, a visual try-before-you-buy which can be far better than pictures and text of its specifications.

    3. Christopher Rogers

      Re: One winner - not really.

      Ive been guilty of letting my son have you tube access but I do my best to avoid it at all costs. I prefer he watches Netfix and Amazon prime. Youtube is too much of a cesspit to allow youngsters to run riot on. Trolling videos, unboxing videos and kids being exploited by their parents by making videos of them playing with toys are some of the reasons to avoid it...

      As for myself - Youtube has been a great resource.

      1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

        Re: One winner - not really.

        In case you're not aware, there is a YouTube for Kids app available which greatly reduces the level of pondlife content that is available. It's not perfect, but it really helps.

        There's also iPlayer for kids and quite good content controls within Amazon Prime video as well...

        1. Oneman2Many

          Re: One winner - not really.

          There is a Youtube for kids but I still wouldn't let kids go on there unsupervised.

          YT is a great resource, there are plenty of great tutorials for kids to help with homework but keep it supervised.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: One winner - not really.

          I always think it’s never a good idea to encourage a monopoly, especially when that potential monopoly is attached to a many pie-fingered company like Google.

          So I’ll always try to look for videos on an alternative video hosting service first, such as Vimeo or (the unfortunately named) DailyMotion, first…

          I’m sure there are others as well.

  14. Arctic fox
    Headmaster

    Whose customers are being punished?

    The really stupid thing about this is that a very large number of Amazon's customers are, independently of their customer relationship to Amazon, also customers of Google in the direct sense. I.e. Mountain View is punishing their own customer base in order to give Amazon the middle finger. Don't you just love the antics of the Big Boys - they do not care who they piss on when they are making their displeasure felt. There seems to be very little today that hinders the big corporations when it comes to behaving like arseholes whenever they feel like it.

    1. chipbutty

      Re: Whose customers are being punished?

      I'm a paid customer of both Amazon and Google. I don't see how Google is punishing me here; I can watch Youtube on both my phones, my tablet, my laptop, my two desktops, my TV, my projector... (you get the picture). I can't say the same for Amazon Prime Video - although it's probably improved in the past year. In fact the only reason I got the Amazon dongle was because of poor device support for Prime Video.

      The only thing this move has done has confirmed my regret at buying an Amazon device (which has been back in its box and forgotten since about a week after it arrived.

      I point this out not to take a dig at Amazon (I still love Prime one-day shipping), but to highlight that not everyone is going to take this move the same way.

      I also find it bizarre (and frankly, petty) that Amazon won't sell Google hardware. My take on that is a total lack of confidence in your own products.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe when these tech giants have built skynet, and their multi billionaire founders each have their own rocket program, they can launch missiles at each other from their tax havens. I'm sure voters would be very keen to support such a move, because so far they are quite happy to let them dodge tax.....

    1. ArrZarr Silver badge
      Coat

      When they're lobbing missiles at each other, we'll start calling them pax evaders.

      yes, yes. Going already.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ultimately, it's us, the viewers, who suffer in these trade wars

    This calls for a Sean Bean bot:

    Millions upon millions will suffer. Lives will be lost, families torn, farmyards and cottages in ruins, children weeping as they go hungry for months. Dark clouds of despair shall descend upon this land, as the Giants wage merciless war for supremacy...

  17. 0laf

    Well...

    Well I for one am probably ok with this.

    It'll stop my son watching all manner of utter drivel on YouTube i.e. toy unboxing, home made shows etc

    Never mind the disturbing Peppa Pig does Marathon Man type stuff.

    1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

      Re: Well...

      Unfortunately it wont stop him if he has a phone. Does your son have a phone?

      This gives me an idea for a "Parental managed content" app which includes drivel filters.

      1. 0laf
        Childcatcher

        Re: Well...

        No.

        And when he gets a phone it'll be a candy-bar brick.

        And if his mates laugh at him I'll consider it to be character building.

        I remember when I was 17 asking my old man if I he would buy me a car. He didn't even raise his head to tell me to "Fuck off". I didn't ask again.

        If my boy asks for an expensive phone he'll get the same answer.

  18. Chris Hills

    Consumer legislation

    It seems like it consumer law's need updating to take into consideration this sorry of digital bait and switch. If I bought a fire TV for the main purpose of watching YouTube then I would expect some amount of compensation (yes even though it is a third party service, it is one of the features advertised).

    1. rmason

      Re: Consumer legislation

      You can still access youtube, just not through an app.

      The people who purchased a firestick or similar *just* to view youtube must be a very small number. The average household with two adults and a couple of kids will probably have somewhere in the 5-10 region of other devices that can view YouTube in the house (including the firstick that will just dump them on youtube.com).

  19. RyokuMas
    Mushroom

    Deja vu

    So Google is looking to pull Youtube access from Amazon... this sounds hauntingly familiar...

    A prime example of why Google needs to be broken up; product tying is an anti-competitive practice and is illegal in US law, with precedent already having been set against both Apple and Microsoft - but Google as they currently stand certainly have the legal and lobbying leverage to at least keep this tied up for years to come, if not completely overturn it.

  20. Chris McEwam

    " Amazon also earlier booted hardware from Google-stablemate Nest from its web souk"

    Really. i got all my nest products from amazon

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=nest

    again these companies really need to get over each other.

  21. OnTheSpecialBus

    YouTube, not an essential service

    Is YouTube still a thing?

    I stepped off the YouTube train when Google insisted on having a Gmail account to upload to youtube.

    Last time I looked at YouTube was for Project Binky.

    The rest of it seems to be "Hold my beer while I catapult a squirrel into a lake", shaky videos from iPhone users that film everything in portrait because of the Selfie Reflex and some inexplicable bloke called PeedoPie.

    I have Netflix, prime, and Spotify.

    Google don't have anything I want and many things life is better without.

    Other search engines are available that don't mug you off through skewed search results.

    Amazon scores, Google tantrum is not big news.

    1. Missing Semicolon Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: YouTube, not an essential service

      Oh, but it is!

      How else would we watch Big Clive and Ave?

      1. Grimster

        Re: YouTube, not an essential service

        Damn @Missing Semicolon

        You have access to my Youtube history?

    2. David Nash Silver badge

      Re: YouTube, not an essential service

      "The rest of it seems to be "Hold my beer while I catapult a squirrel into a lake", shaky videos from iPhone users that film everything in portrait because of the Selfie Reflex and some inexplicable bloke called PeedoPie."

      There is so much on YT. I would pretty much guarantee that, whatever you use YouTube for, you will find someone else watching something that makes you say, "I didn't know you could get that on YouTube".

      Sure, there's a lot of crap. There is also a lot of good stuff. Everyone's definition of crap and good is different.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A prime example of

    consumers reaped the benefits of a competitive marketplace...

  23. MJG

    Well I'm probably with Google on this one at this point in time. Amazon not settling their products for years, and not streaming to chromecasts (although I belive their music play does, but when I checked the option wasn't there). I've had two one month trials of Amazon Prime (not sure how managed that, but did), and have no devices I can actually watch the videos on (OK, my phone), but if I could have streamed it, I might have signed up to it (do order things every now and then!) Same with apple, can't stream, but that's their choice.

    Not selling Google hardware (it's the latest Nest products apparently), and not streaming to hardware I own and like from your apps is just a pain in the arse.You have lost a sale (and probably more sales based on your advertising), based on this lack of streaming!

    Go on google, stop any search results on your search engine with amazon in them... Hmmm maybe not, but that WOULD be a popcorn moment!

  24. Tigra 07
    WTF?

    As an Amazon customer...Fuck Amazon...

    I would call this anti-competitive had Amazon not started all this. They launched their Fire sticks and stopped Google selling Chromecasts on Amazon. Now they complain that Google stops Youtube working on Amazon devices...Serves you bloody right you hypocrites.

  25. Flakk

    Ultimately, it's us, the viewers, who suffer in these trade wars.

    Really? Interesting. *goes back to switching freely between YouTube and Amazon Prime vids on the PS4, in between marathon holiday gaming sessions*

    1. palmerj

      I will go back to shopping directly in stores and spread the word to friends and family.

  26. Cuddles

    Blocking what?

    "Echo Show and Fire TV now display a standard web view of YouTube.com and point customers directly to YouTube’s existing website. Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website."

    Google is blocking customer access to an open website by... directing said customers to the exact same open website. Maybe the interface with web browsers is a bit shit on Amazon's thingies, but forcing people to use a browser instead of an app to view the same content can hardly be described as actually blocking anything.

  27. Panicnow

    Rehersal for end of net neutrality

    Balkanisation of the Internet up ahead

    It was SO good for the first few years

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Ultimately, it's us, the viewers, who suffer in these trade wars."

    You could have started the article with that sentence. I basically have no idea what this article is about.

    But I can assure you that "non-viewers" (people who do not own a TV or watch random on-line video) can live very fulfilling lives too. :-)

  29. Oneman2Many

    I really don't understand how people are comparing YT to netflix and amazon prime. Pretty much two completely different things. The clue is in the name, YT is mainly about user generated content, not the mostly dross produced by film and TV studios.

    Its also worlds biggest jukebox, something that netflix doesn't even do and amazon prime barely scratches the surface with. Spotify is around 30m tracks, SoundCloud has around 120m of user uploaded tracks, YouTube is over 250m, of course a lot of crap quality stuff on there but also a lot of stuff you just can't find anywhere else. How often have you come across a track that you can't find on there ?

    1. Kiwi
      Paris Hilton

      YouTube is over 250m,

      And what % of those are properly licensed, with a fair payment being made to the artist?

      (surreptitiously tucks MP3 player out of sight)

  30. IGnatius T Foobar
    Meh

    Seems appropriate

    I have no love for either of these companies, but it is ridiculous that they've banned each other's media on their respective devices. Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are all globalist scum, but if you want any technology at all in your home, you basically have to decide whose ecosystem you want to have, otherwise you're buying four of everything. In my home we've gone Google so we have ChromeCast on every screen. And for that, we can't watch Amazon Prime Video on the telly. I'm not buying FireSticks just for that!

    So yeah, these guys need to have a truce or something.

  31. palmerj

    I need You tube for my Wifes Qquilting and many other crafts so she can place her material order through Amazon ,With out it we don't need either .Either Amazon and Google work it out or loose our money .We have Google devices and Amazon products as well So keep You tube or I return everything .

  32. palmerj

    They are making billions off of advertisement for other companies and payment for their useage

  33. palmerj

    I use YouTube to learn how to do thing like repair cars and machinery with out it it cost me too much money .If Google pulls YouTube they will loose me.

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