DIRECTV Loses YouTubeBy Phillip Swann
Washington, D.C. (May 7, 2015) - DIRECTV subscribers no longer have access to the YouTube streaming app due to the video service's recent
upgrade, the satcaster has confirmed to TVPredictions.com.
The satellite TV service added YouTube and other streaming apps such as Pandora to its Internet-enabled HD DVRs four years ago. But YouTube recently upgraded to new technical specifications which are not compatible with older set-tops.
Several Smart TVs and Net-enabled set tops such as Blu-ray players and gaming consoles last month lost access to YouTube as well.
Robert Mercer, a DIRECTV spokesman, says the satcaster is working with YouTube to restore the user-generated video service to the company's subscribers.
"YouTube content via the DIRECTV set-top is no longer available. They (YouTube) changed their technical specifications to deliver the YouTube experience through DIRECTV's and other distributors' set-tops boxes," Mercer said. "We've had a long relationship with YouTube and will continue to work with them to find ways to restore delivering their content to our customers."
Despite Mercer's comment, however, DIRECTV CEO Mike White this week sounded skeptical about YouTube's future on the satellite service.
"I'm not sure the YouTube thing will continue because they're trying to do something different to control the whole experience themselves," White told financial analysts this week after the company's release of its first quarter report.
TVPredictions.com
reported in February that DIRECTV may be considering offering its own YouTube-like TV channel based on company documents filed with the U.S Patent & Trademark Office.
The satcaster filedfor trademarks for two possible names for the channel, "My View" and "U View," on January 16, 2015. In the trademark request, DIRECTV says it would be an online social networking service and one of the trademark's uses would be for "a dedicated television channel for accessing user content, namely, photos and videos."
A DIRECTV spokeswoman in February would only confirm that the trademarks had been requested.