Roku, Google End YouTube Dispute; Streaming Platform To Be Available On Roku Channel Store

(RTTNews) - Roku Inc. (ROKU) said on Wednesday morning that it signed a multi-year deal with Google (GOOG), which would make the YouTube and YouTube TV apps available on Roku's devices. The agreement was reached months after the YouTube TV app was pulled from the Roku Channel Store and just one day before the regular YouTube app would have been pulled from the Channel Store as well.

The finer details of the deal have not been made public as to how many years "multi-year" means and whether Roku will be adding decoding support for the AV1 video codec to its hardware. There is also no clarity whether the $65-per-month YouTube TV service will be available on the Roku store as its own app or it will be part of the main YouTube app, as it has been since Google made it like that in May.

The ongoing support for the AV1 codec has been one of the major bones of contention between the two companies. The YouTube and YouTube TV apps make use of AV1, backed by Google, to offer compressed 4K and 8K video streams. Streaming devices, however, use slower, cheaper processors and they depend on dedicated video decoding hardware to decompress and display those video files, and while most of these devices use the commonly used H.265/HEVC codec for high-resolution video streams, fewer use the royalty-free AV1 codec.

According to Roku, the addition of AV1 support to its devices would "increase consumer costs," and require for YouTube and YouTube TV support to dictate Google as to which chips Roku uses in its own products. Google has also accused Roku of using its position in the streaming-device market to secure more favorable terms in many deals.