Channels & viewing

[BartZLederman]

I have made several attempts to play videos using the Youtube channel on my Roku.

NO videos play.  Selecting one causes a pop-up on the upper right hand side of the screen that says:

Something went wrong.

The following content is not available on this app

(Back)

This fault is almost certainly within  Youtube. Sometime between yesterday and this morning Google made a drastic change to how Youtube works in order to block all third-party apps from accessing Youtube.  However, they have also apparently blocked their own App: assuming that the Youtube channel that runs on Roku was supplied by Youtube.

You may say this is a Youtube problem, but I believe this is the proper place to report it, and it is also a responsibility of Roku to notify anyone who supplies channels to run on Roku devices what their app is broken and needs to be fixed.  This is especially true for a major content provider like Youtube.

I should point out that I have only tested this by logging in as "Guest".  I have never had to log into an account or into the children's portal, and should not have to.

I did check: all of my Roku software is up-to-date and the Youtube app is specifically up-to-date.

Is anyone else seeing this?

[RokuTakashi · Accepted solution]

Hi, @BartZLederman 

Thanks for posting here in the Roku Community.

We appreciate you for letting us know about the issue you have encountered with YouTube, and we're here to assist you in resolving this issue. We would advise you to follow the troubleshooting steps to enable a clean app reset for optimal usage after the step. Kindly follow the instructions below:

1. Navigate to the channel tile on the Roku home screen, press the star (*) key on your remote, and choose "Remove channel".
2. Next, restart your device from Settings > System > Power > System Restart (If you do not see a Power submenu, skip to the next step).
3. Once your player/TV starts up again, go to "Streaming Store" on the Home screen, and add the channel back once more.
4. You may also refer to this link: How to resolve a channel playback issue | Official Roku Support

If the issue persists after performing the provided troubleshooting step, you may want to contact the channel provider's support directly and inquire further about this issue. They can provide a workaround or there might be a need to update their app on the Roku platform since most channels on the Roku platform are designed and maintained by the channel providers themselves.

We hope you find this information useful, and feel free to let us know if you have further concerns or inquries.

Best wishes,
Kash

[BartZLederman]

I went through ALL of the steps.  I removed the Youtube channel, went into settings and made sure all of Roku was up-to-date, did a power restart, did a new installation of the Youtube App, and it did NOTHING to fix the problem.  It is still exactly as it was before: I can see and select videos, but when I try to play one I get exactly the same error as before: a pop-up telling me the content is not available.

I have left a message on the only place I could find on the Youtube web site: but if you actually knew anything about Youtube, you would know that they always ignore all feedback from individuals.  For all of the time Youtube has been in existance they have never responded to complaints or reports of problems.  That is why it is so important that Roku report the issue.

[RokuCarly]

Hi, @BartZLederman!

Thanks for reaching out and for performing all the possible troubleshooting steps. 

In this case, I can assure you that I will be coordinating this with the appropriate team to conduct a thorough investigation. With this being said, kindly provide me with additional information such as follows:

• Roku device model, serial number, device ID, and current software version. (this can all be found in Settings > System > About)
• Tracker ID (when you see this issue occur, press the Home button 5 times, followed by the Back button 5 times, and provide us with this ID)
• Channel build version and a photo of the error message prompted.

I'll be looking forward to your response.

Best regards,
Carly

[BartZLederman]

Apparently, whatever I did to offend Youtube has been forgiven or timed out, because I just tried the App and it is working again.  I am no longer getting the rejection messages.

I wish I could tell you what caused the problem in the first place so we could all avoid doing it in the future: but I have no idea what caused the problem.

Thanks for your offers of help.

[RokuCarly]

We appreciate your update, @BartZLederman.

We're glad to hear that you're able to continue streaming on YouTube. For future assistance, feel free to reach out anytime or create a new thread for different concerns. 

You may also visit our website, Roku Support, for additional troubleshooting steps. 

I hope you continue to have a Happy Streaming! 💜

Best regards,
Carly