Google is trying to make its live television service easier to access, loosening its browser restrictions for YouTube TV by making it available to users of Firefox as well as Chrome.
The opening was quiet. Google simply updated its support page to reflect the change, noting, “For the best YouTube TV HD viewing experience, download the latest version of Chrome or Firefox.”
Since its launch last spring, YouTube TV has only been available via the web through Google Chrome. According to 9to5Google, as Firefox has gotten better with the introduction of Quantum in recent months, some consumers have been switching.
RELATED: YouTube TV finally launches on Roku
There’s no mention of which version of Firefox is required but updating to the latest version seems to make everything work properly, the site said.
Late last year, Mozilla said 170 million people installed Quantum, which is twice as fast as previous versions, a month after it debuted and 44 percent of those users came from Chrome.
Google’s support page promises that it is “working to bring YouTube TV to more browsers in the future” but didn’t specify the browsers or the timing.
In February, YouTube TV launched on Roku. Before then, it had been alone among major vMPVD services in a highly competitive market in being shut out of the number one OTT platform in U.S.
The browser addition was a welcome move: “While most YouTube TV users are most likely locked into Google’s ecosystem, there are still many of us who prefer to use Firefox instead of Chrome,” wrote Andrew Allen on "Your Tech Explained" Thursday. “One of my disappointments in Google’s live TV service has been that you couldn’t watch it on anything other than Chrome at launch. I recently discovered this morning that this is no longer the case. To my surprise, YouTube TV now works while using Firefox!"