Google and Amazon have jointly announced the end of the long-running standoff, a feud that kept native YouTube app unavailable on the Fire TV platform for more than a year. As a result of the new agreement, the YouTube app will soon return to the Amazon Fire TV devices.
It’s noteworthy that the deal doesn’t include Amazon’s smart display — the Echo Show. This means that YouTube won’t be arriving on that device anytime soon. However, reports indicate that both the companies are still in conversation. Meantime, the users of Echo Show can rely on the web browser version to access YouTube.
YouTube App on Fire TV devices
According to Amazon, YouTube will return to Fire TV devices “in the coming months” while the apps for YouTube TV and YouTube Kids will be available on Amazon’s streaming media devices “later this year.”
Also, Fire TV will become fully certified for YouTube, which means that it will offer first-rate video quality and minimal buffering. Also, YouTube for Fire TV will comes with support for Alexa voice commands for searching and playing content.
Prime Video on Chromecast
Further, the Prime Video app for Chromecast and Android TV devices are also arriving “in the coming months.” With this, anyone with a 4K-ready Chromecast or 4K smart TV can stream select content from Prime Video at up to 4K resolution.
The company also said that the Prime Video will also become universally available on Android TV. Till now, the service had been limited to select devices running Android TV operating system.
No deal for retail yet
The deal seems to be strictly about streaming service and doesn’t include any retail component. Thus, Amazon is still adamant about not selling Google Home, a direct competitor of its Echo lineup, or Nest’s more recent devices on its platform.
