YouTube Deactivated from Amazon Fire TV Four Days Early

What do you do when someone wants to fire you and you wish to keep a bit of pride? According to Amazon, you quit. So, why was YouTube deactivated from Amazon Fire TV earlier than scheduled? It seems that the reason might be a strained relationship between Google and Amazon that is finally culminating in this move.

According to Google's plans, they wanted to disable YouTube on Amazon Fire TV sticks on January 1, 2018. However, Amazon decided to kill the app four days earlier, for reasons we can just speculate. The epilogue of the drama for the users is that when they click the YouTube icon, instead of opening the app, a default web browser on their device pops up.

Why Was YouTube Deactivated From Amazon Fire TV?

The whole disagreement between the two giants started in September when Google decided to pull YouTube out of Amazon Echo Show. At that time, a spokesperson for Google announced that Amazon's 'lack of reciprocity' towards Google caused this action. Namely, the officials stated that Amazon does not support Google's services and products in a way that would meet Google's commitment. The products in question were newer Nest products, Google Home and Chromecast. Likewise, Google found fault with the fact that Amazon did not offer Prime Video support for users of Google Cast.

Earlier this December, when Google announced that it would discontinue supporting YouTube on Fire TV, it gave additional reasons. The tech giant claimed that the main reason for a move like that were violations of their terms and services. However, an underlying reason neither of them is mentioning is their long-lasting competition related to streaming devices and services. Apart from not making Prime Video available on Chromecast, Amazon also has not sold Chromecast devices on their website, until recently. All of these circumstances could be what got YouTube disconnected from Amazon Fire TV.

The Solution to the Dispute Might Be on the Horizon

The users of Fire TV had nurtured hopes that Amazon and Google would be able to come to an understanding before the grim resolve. Unfortunately for them, that did not happen. However, there are some signs that the two companies might be going in the right direction. Just a couple of weeks ago, Amazon began offering Google Chromecast on its website or the first time after a two-year hiatus. This way, they have acknowledged at least one reason that Google had for disconnecting the YouTube application.

Both companies declared that they were resolute to address the situation and resolve the problems. A Google official recently said that the two companies have been working together through productive talks. Even so, Amazon has not shown any indications that it will try to tackle other complaints by Google. On top of that, in a report last week, Amazon disclosed that they have been working on "Amazontube," a possible competitor of YouTube.

Good News - There Is a Way Around the Block

Amazon might be already realizing that it is on the loss for losing YouTube. The reason is that it is already working on a way to bypass the block. We have already written about the two main ways in which Amazon allows you to do this in detail. One is going through Firefox browser which is now available in the Amazon Store App. The other one, a better but a little bit more complicated solution, would be to resort to sideloading. Whichever way you chose, we hope that it would be temporary. Hopefully, the two companies would eventually resolve the issues that got Youtube deactivated from Amazon Fire TV.

Final Thoughts

How do you feel about the reasons that got YouTube deactivated from Amazon Fire TV? Do you think "Amazontube" could be a good go-to solution for Amazon? And what about the users, how will these tech wars affect them? Share your answers with us.