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Google Assistant on Google Home can finally Cast and control Play Movies & TV

Since launch, Google Home has surprisingly lacked the ability to control content from Play Movies & TV. Today, Assistant smart speakers are finally adding support for Casting content to Chromecast-enabled displays and controlling playback through voice actions.

As spotted by Android Police this afternoon and after some users began seeing the functionality last week, the integration is beginning to go live. An official help document that lists streaming services supported by Home also confirms this.

Users can now tell Assistant to start any movie or television show from their Google Play library of purchased content. Also watchable on a Cast screen are movie and TV show rentals, as well as content made available through Family Sharing. Since Play Movies & TV is a first-party service, users do not have to first link a partner app like with Netflix or HBO.

The standard suite of Casting and other commands work, like playback controls for pause, skip back, next/previous episode, and more.

Early reports note that the feature is already live, but it’s not yet available on three device we’ve tested. Regardless, this is a long overdue and welcome integration for a first-party service.


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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com