YouTube TV subscribers can’t do this in the App Store anymore

Heads up, YouTube TV subscribers.

If you pay for YouTube TV using Apple’s App Store , you’re going to be out of luck starting in March, according to an email sent to customers this week. MacRumors has the email in full, but the most important detail is that support for App Store subscriptions to YouTube TV is ending on March 13.

The other most important detail is that you’ll still be able to watch YouTube TV on Apple devices. You’ll just have to pay Google directly.

YouTube TV’s email didn’t exactly say why the service is ditching the App Store, but we can make an educated guess. Apple collects a 30 percent commission on in-app purchases for anything in its App Store. Google, on the other hand, can ask people to pay for YouTube TV directly and take all of that money. 

We’ve crunched the numbers and it turns out 100 is more than 70. Of course, Google isn’t exactly innocent of this behavior itself. Developers with apps on the Google Play Store also give up a 30-percent commission on in-app purchases. A popular video game you may have heard of called Fortnite famously shipped on Android without a slot in the Play Store so publisher Epic Games could avoid that 30 percent fee.

That 30 percent figure is pretty standard in digital marketplaces, especially those that specialize in selling video games. It seems like Google didn’t feel like paying Apple anymore.