Google gets FCC approval for Nexus Player, preorders likely to reopen

By Mike Flacy Published November 11, 2014

nexus-player — Image used with permission by copyright holder

One day after preorders opened up for Google’s Nexus Player set-top box, the Web company was forced to halt all early orders for the device due to the lack of approval by the Federal Communications Commission. While anyone that ordered the device between Friday and Saturday was able to snag an early order, interested consumers that attempted to order in the last 24 hours were out of luck. Google specifically mentioned the FCC issue at the bottom of the Nexus Player page which read “This device has not been approved by the Federal Communications Commission. It is not for sale until approval of the FCC has been obtained.”

Fortunately for Google, the Nexus Player received FCC approval today and Google can start taking orders again for the $99 set-top box in the near future. It’s likely that Google will reopen ordering during Sunday evening or Monday morning on the Google Play store. Other retailers will also be able to open up preorders for the set-top box, although the device has yet to appear on Amazon’s site, despite the retailer providing a page to preorder the Nexus 9 tablet almost immediately after Google’s announcement of the new tablet last week.

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During this holiday season, the Nexus Player will be going head-to-head with competing set-top boxes such as the Roku 3, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV as well as competing indirectly with streaming sticks like the Chromecast and Roku streaming stick in addition to gaming consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Interestingly, Apple has yet to announce a revision to the Apple TV and Roku has remained silent on the development of a new flagship set-top box to replace the Roku 3. The Roku 3 was originally released approximately 18 months ago and the Apple TV’s last hardware revision also occurred during early 2013.

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