Roku said Friday that Google‘s live TV streaming service, YouTube TV, has been removed from its channel store because the companies’ distribution agreement has expired. Roku users who have already installed YouTube TV on their devices can continue to stream it, but no new customers can sign up for YouTube TV on Roku — nor download the …

Roku warned Monday that that Google‘s live-TV streaming service YouTube TV may be removed from its popular devices, saying in an email to customers that Google is making unfair, anti-competitive demands that would “manipulate your search results, impact the usage of your data and ultimately cost you more.”  YouTube‘s main app on Roku is unaffected. Roku’s standoff with Google concerns only the …

Spotify next week will unveil its own podcast subscription program, which won’t charge podcasters or take a commission off their subscriptions, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The news comes days after competitor Apple revealed its own podcast subscription option, one that carries a fee — sometimes referred to as a “tax” — of as much …

Discovery Plus’ latest premiere stars slow-motion hummingbirds flitting around a Wyoming field, giant Sequoias dappled by sunlight and a winter rainbow in the midst of a Rocky Mountain snow flurry.  Immersions, a new package of “slow TV” nature programming that Discovery Plus launched Thursday for Earth Day, are meditative, long-form videos presenting quiet shots of animals and nature, turning your TV …

Apple will add paid podcast subscriptions within its dedicated podcast app, which it’s also redesigned with new image-forward pages for every show and episode and with channels to help discover new titles, the company said Tuesday. The news came at Apple’s event revealing new iPad tablets, iMac computers and more.  The podcast subscription option “enables you to unlock new content as …

Ted Lasso, the Apple TV Plus sports dramedy that may be its closest thing to a breakout hit, is set to return July 23. But in a first for a lot of Apple TV Plus subscribers, you might actually have to pay to watch it.  The second-season premiere for Ted Lasso, announced at Apple’s Spring Loaded event Tuesday, will arrive after the date …

Netflix’s subscriber growth cooled in the early months of this year, with more slowing to come, an unwelcome surprise to investors who had been buoyed by the company’s milestone accomplishment of surpassing 200 million global members at the end of last year.  Netflix said subscribers increased by 4 million to 207.6 million total in January through March, according to its first-quarter …

Roku owners, get ready for another free software upgrade. Roku’s operating system now lets more devices work with Apple AirPlay, widening support beyond 4K products to less expensive, HD-resolution Roku TVs and streamers too. It introduces a number of clever features, including one that lets you dictate some long email addresses instead of using your remote to navigate around an on-screen keyboard, letter …

YouTube on Tuesday began sharing new information about the impact of bad behavior on Google’s massive video site: its violative view rate, or how many times rule-breaking videos get watched before YouTube takes them down. But the massive scale of YouTube’s total viewing, which the company doesn’t detail, means how much people are actually watching these misleading, dangerous, hateful or offensive videos …

Netflix has improved its diversity, both in terms of characters in its scripted programs and people working behind the camera on those projects, but some groups remain underrepresented, says an academic study released Friday. Netflix, the world’s biggest subscription streaming service of its kind, with more than 200 million members, commissioned the report itself. The study examined Netflix’s own English-language series …