As of June 15, no Samsung, LG, Vizio or Roku smart TV will continue to have the Google Play Movies & TV app.
Instead, the YouTube application for each of these same platforms will fulfill the role of managing the content purchased or rented through this service.
YouTube integrate the Google Play catalog
The YouTube app for televisions inherits all the functions that the future Google Play Movies and TV app provides today. Through a new section, which will be enabled on the aforementioned date, it will be possible to have access to all purchases made previously, as well as to be able to navigate between the store’s catalog and acquire new content under purchase or rent.
This news was shared by Google through an update on their support portal, in which they also point out that the Google Play credit can also be used to acquire content on YouTube.
To make this transition easy, items purchased from the Google Play Family Collection can also be managed through YouTube. However, the content purchased on YouTube cannot be shared in the same way with the family group.
These changes do not contemplate the migration of playlists from one platform to another. Although the contents will be preserved, the playlists will be eliminated, having as the only alternative for their replacement the creation of new lists, directly from YouTube.
These changes, which add an interesting catalog of audiovisual productions to the platform, will affect the various platforms where YouTube can be accessed, including its mobile applications, the web and other media.
The gradual dismissal of Google Play from this sector
Certainly, when thinking about popular platforms for the sale, rental or transmission of audiovisual content, Google Play hardly appears among the first options in a field that is led by Netflix, Amazon and other similar services from the same spectrum.
With this transition, Google will boost its store through one of its most powerful brands for this segment, such as YouTube.
In the case of mobiles and the entire ecosystem of Google’s devices, during the past year the transition to a new application began: Google tv, which was again only subject to a mainly cosmetic and branding change.
Sometimes subtle changes can make a difference. Considering that in general, our digital activity revolves around an increasing number of applications and services, unifying certain features in a powerful platform is an interesting bet.
