Back in 2017, Google and Amazon got into a public spat when Google pulled YouTube from the Amazon Fire TV and Echo Show. The two companies said they were in "productive discussions" about getting YouTube back on those devices, but we never heard anything about it after that. Until now.
Official YouTube apps are coming to Amazon Fire TV devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs. Google and Amazon announced the news today, bringing an end to their battle. The YouTube apps will launch on Fire TV devices "in the coming months" and will support 4K HDR video playback at 60fps on supported devices. YouTube TV and YouTube Kids apps will also launch later this year on Fire TV devices.
Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video will be available for streaming on Chromecast and devices with Chromecast built-in.
It's great to see Google and Amazon finally burying the hatchet and bringing YouTube to Fire TV devices and offering Prime Video support for Chromecast. When Google removed the YouTube app from Fire TV in 2017, it hurt consumers, making them go through extra work to access YouTube's website through a browser on the Fire TV, which is not the same experience as an app. Now owners of Amazon's Fire TV devices will have easy access to YouTube once again, complete with 4K HDR video playback.
Interestingly, today's announcement makes no mention of YouTube support for the Echo Show. Google also pulled YouTube from the Echo Show in 2017, saying that the implementation violated its terms of service and created a "broken experience". It's unclear when or if YouTube will return to the Echo Show, but hopefully Google and Amazon's agreement on the Fire TV and bring support back to the Echo Show soon.
