Why Rokus TV and Fire Stick are missing some big streaming apps

The manufacturers and streaming services are fighting each other over money and control and they are sticking you in the middle. Roku TV and Amazon Fire Stick dominate the whole market for streaming devices.

The Roku TV still doesn't have HBO Max's streaming app. The Peacock streams free shows & movies but not on Amazon Fire Stick. And T-Mobile just rolled out its own live-channel streaming service, TVision but Roku users, again, are out of luck.

These gaps in in-app support used to be rare on streaming devices. This year, they've cropped up with nearly every launch of an enormous, new streaming service. Why?

Streaming has grown more popular than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, amplifying a long trend of people, Who watching more videos over the internet. Now the foremost powerful TV app distributors and deep-pocketed media companies are drawing their battle lines. Both sides want more control of the info, money, and programming at the guts of your streaming activity, getting to entrench themselves in positions of power for the subsequent era of television.

Unfortunately, that leaves you stuck within the middle with missing streaming options.

Neither Roku nor Amazon responded to messages seeking comment.

When you go to the store and buy an electronic device, whether it's a TV or a blender or a Roku, the consumer's perspective is "I own it," said Andrew McCollum, CEO of Philo, a skinny-bundle streaming service for entertainment channels. "It's not just that you simply have ownership of the device; device makers also feel they need some ownership over you."

Most people assume all the big streaming services will be ready to download and watch on their streaming device. And up until this year, that was fairly true. People who bought a Roku or an Amazon Fire TV could generally calculate the foremost popular streaming apps to be there. That wide app support is one among the explanations Roku and Fire TV have come to dominate the marketplace for streaming devices and smart TVs. Together, the 2 companies made up 70% of all the streaming devices installed within the US last year, consistent with Parks Associates.