Google’s ‘Free TV’ button is everything wrong with streaming remotes

Anyone who owns a Roku streaming player is familiar with the Roku remote, the one with the four “shortcut” buttons in the bottom third of the device. 

The buttons are marked with a revolving door of streaming service logos, from Netflix and Hulu to Max and Apple TV+. Press one of the buttons, and you’ll jump directly to that streaming service. 

That’s great if you happen to be subscribed to those four particular streaming services, but if you’re not—and I’d wager most of us don’t subscribe to four streaming services at a time—you’re stuck with one or more useless buttons on your Roku remote. (And no, you can’t reprogram those buttons.) 

Luckily, the other big streaming device players don’t put shortcut buttons on their remotes… oh wait, they do. (The Siri remote that ships with an Apple TV doesn’t have them, or at least not yet.) 

These TV remote shortcut buttons are nothing new, but now Google is upping the ante with a “Free TV” button for Google TV devices made by third parties (a story that was broken by Android Authority.) 

We’ve already seen an example on Walmart’s Onn Google TV 4K Pro, which sports a big blue “Free TV” button right in the middle of the remote. Press it, and you’ll jump to Google “Freeplay” selection of live streaming channels, or to an equivalent live streaming guide in regions where Google doesn’t offer Freeplay. 

While only a few Google TV devices have a Free TV button at the moment, Google is now requiring its OEM partners to put a “Free TV” or “Live TV” button on their upcoming Google TV remotes, as Android Authority reports. (Google hasn’t revealed the mandated specifications for the button, including its size and color.) 

Now, if you happen to love these FAST (short for “free ad-supported TV”) channels, the “Free TV” button will come in handy. If not, you’ve got a big blue button on your remote that you’ll need to avoid. 

It should be pointed out that unlike typical TV shortcut buttons, Google’s Free TV button can be reprogrammed, although doing so requires a third-party app. 

Still, it’s galling that TV and streaming media player manufacturers are sticking more and more of these shortcuts buttons on their remotes, and of course, it’s a practice that’s more focused on generating revenue than it serving the customer. (Google, for its part, told Android Authority that the button “will help provide a consistent experience with quick access at users’ fingertips.”) 

Streaming services pay the likes of Roku, Amazon, and Google for getting prime shortcut placement on their remotes, while the Google’s new Free TV buttons will help draw more eyeballs to its collection of FAST channels, which means more advertising dollars. 

For most of us, these shortcut buttons are the opposite of convenience—they’re actively annoying, falling in the same bucket as TV screensaver advertisements and auto-playing video ads. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Logitech’s line of Harmony universal remotes, which you could customize to your heart’s content. Sadly, Logitech discontinued its Harmony remotes years ago, and it recently nixed support for its oldest Harmoney models. 

So yes, these streaming remote shortcut buttons are a collective pain, and we can expect more of them in the future.