KEY POINTS
  • Google said Thursday it would remove YouTube apps from the Roku app store on Dec. 9 as the two sides fight over a new agreement.
  • Roku claims Google asked for preferential treatment in search results as a condition to allow YouTube apps on Roku.
  • Google called those claims "baseless" and said it never asked for preferential treatment.
  • But a 2019 email from Google to Roku that was viewed by CNBC shows Google did ask for preferential treatment for YouTube in Roku's search results.

In this article

A Roku Inc. remote in an arranged photograph in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, May 2, 2021.

YouTube is leaving Roku. And now the fight between the two companies has caught the attention of members of Congress attempting to push their Big Tech antitrust legislation.

After a months-long fight between Roku and YouTube's parent company Google, Google announced Thursday that it would no longer allow Roku customers to download the YouTube or YouTube TV apps to their devices starting Dec. 9. (Roku customers who already have YouTube or YouTube TV installed will still be able to use those apps normally.) That means anyone who buys a new Roku device after Dec. 9 will not be able to install YouTube apps.

In this article