Courtesy of Google
- Google and Amazon have officially ended a video streaming war that stretches back to 2015.
- From Tuesday, Google’s video platform YouTube will be available on Amazon Fire TV, while Chromecast will support Amazon’s Prime Video
- The new partnership was previously announced in April.
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The video streaming war between Amazon and Google is over.
For years, the two tech giants have gone head-to-head with their video streaming services, battling it out and looking for ways to undercut each other.
In April, this changed when the two companies announced that they would now offer their own apps on each other’s streaming devices. As of Tuesday, it was made official.
This means that Amazon Fire TV users can now watch YouTube, while Chromecast — which allows people to stream videos from their device onto a TV screen — now supports Amazon’s Prime Video service.
The YouTube app will be available on certain Amazon devices including Fire TV Stick (2nd Gen), Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube, and Fire TV Stick Basic Edition. It will be rolled out to other Fire TV devices in the next few months.
Amazon
The YouTube app also works with Amazon’s Alexa device so users will be able to easily select the app using the voice controls.
The agreement marks a shift away from Amazon and Google’s previously frosty relationship. The two companies had previously prevented their respective video services from being available on each other’s TV streaming platforms.
In 2017, Google blocked the YouTube app from Amazon’s products after an Amazon decision in 2015 to stop selling Google’s competing devices — Chromecast and Google Home — on its website. Amazon reversed that decision in December 2017, but the streaming wars continued.
Commenting on peace breaking out, Google hardware director Wayne Thorsen and entertainment boss Jonathan Zepp said: "It’s Prime time to sit back, relax and watch TV."
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mary Hanbury)