Slashdot Mirror
Amazon's YouTube App on Fire TV Stops Working Ahead of Schedule (fastcompany.com)
Amazon has already deactivated its YouTube app on Fire TV devices, four days before a planned blockade by Google. Instead of opening YouTube directly, the app now encourages users to install Silk or Firefox, and will open a link to the site once either browser is installed. From a report: Google has said it will cut off YouTube access on Fire TV starting January 1, citing Amazon's unwillingness to support Prime Video on Chromecast, or to sell Google hardware (including Chromecast) on its website. The companies say they're having productive discussions, and Amazon now has a product listing up for Chromecast, but the YouTube app's deactivation suggests an agreement isn't imminent.
Amazon has the advantage: more Prime subscribers (with Prime Video) than Play subscribers buying videos. It's using one monopoly to try to expand power into another market (streaming devices). Using their online sales monopoly to tie to their streaming video product and simultaneously hobble a competitor's ability to sell streaming devices and stream video to their devices is ... a complex ball of violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust act.
Didn't Microsoft get bent over for this once or twice?
Support my political activism on Patreon.