This edition of Lowpass by Janko Roettgers explores the dynamic intersection of technology and entertainment. It’s brought to you exclusively for The Verge readers once a week.

In an unexpected move last month, Netflix decided to eliminate a major feature. Without any prior notice, the streaming giant disabled the option to cast videos from its mobile apps to a wide array of smart TVs and streaming devices. Now, casting is only available on older Chromecast devices that lack a remote, Nest Hub smart displays, and a select few smart TVs from Vizio and Compal.

This decision marks a significant shift for Netflix. Previously, the platform supported casting to a broad spectrum of devices utilizing Google’s casting technology. This included Android TVs from brands like Philips, Polaroid, Sharp, Skyworth, Soniq, Sony, Toshiba, and Vizio, as noted in an archived version of Netflix’s website.

Moreover, before these changes, Netflix also provided what was known as “Netflix 2nd Screen” casting capabilities. This feature was accessible on various devices, including Sony’s PlayStation, LG and Samsung TVs, Roku TVs, and streaming adapters, among others. Essentially, if a smart TV or device had the Netflix app, it likely supported casting.

The foundation for this technology was laid by Netflix about 15 years ago. In 2011, some of its engineers began exploring ways to better integrate mobile phones with TVs. “Simultaneously, we discovered that the YouTube team shared a similar interest and had already begun exploring second screen use cases,” explained Scott Mirer, then director of product management at Netflix, in a 2013 statement.

This collaboration between Netflix and YouTube, along with assistance from TV manufacturers like Sony and Samsung, led to the development of DIAL (Discovery and Launch). DIAL is an open second-screen protocol that formalized the casting process.

In 2012, Netflix was the first major streaming service to add a casting feature to its mobile app, which at the time allowed PlayStation 3 owners to launch video playback from their phones. A year later, Google launched its very first Chromecast dongle, which took ideas from DIAL and incorporated them into Google’s own proprietary casting technology.

For a while, casting was extremely popular. Google sold over 100 million Chromecast adapters, and Vizio even built a whole TV around casting, which shipped with a tablet instead of a remote. (It flopped. Turns out people still love physical remotes.)

But as smart TVs became more capable, and streaming services invested more heavily into native apps on those TVs, the need for casting gradually decreased. At CES, a streaming service operator told me that casting used to be absolutely essential for his service. Nowadays, even among the service’s Android users, only about 10 percent are casting.

As for Netflix, it’s unlikely the company will change its tune on casting. Netflix declined to comment when asked about discontinuing the feature. My best guess is that casting was sacrificed in favor of new features like cloud gaming and interactive voting. Gaming in particular already involves multidevice connectivity, as Netflix uses phones as game controllers. Adding casting to that mix simply might have proven too complex.

However, not everyone has given up on casting. In fact, the technology is still gaining new supporters. Last month, Apple added Google Cast support to its Apple TV app on Android for the first time. And over the past two years, both Samsung and LG incorporated Google’s casting tech into some of their TV sets.

“Google Cast continues to be a key experience that we’re invested in — bringing the convenience of seamless content sharing from phones to TVs, whether you’re at home or staying in a hotel,” says Google’s Android platform PM Neha Dixit. “Stay tuned for more to come this year.”

Google’s efforts are getting some competition from the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the group behind the Matter smart home standard, which developed its own Matter Casting protocol. Matter Casting promises to be a more open approach toward casting and in theory allows streaming services and device makers to bring second-screen use cases to their apps and devices without having to strike deals with Google.

“We are a longtime advocate of using open technology standards to give customers more choice when it comes to using their devices and services,” says Amazon Device Software & Services VP Tapas Roy, whose company is a major backer of Matter and its casting tech. “We welcome and support media developers that want to build to an open standard with the implementation of Matter Casting.”

Thus far, support has been limited though. Fire TVs and Echo Show displays remain the only devices to support Matter Casting, and Amazon’s own apps were long the only ones to make use of the feature. Last month, Tubi jumped on board as well by incorporating Matter Casting into its mobile apps.

Connectivity Standards Alliance technology strategist Christopher LaPré acknowledges that Matter Casting has yet to turn into a breakthrough hit. “To be honest, I have Fire TVs, and I’ve never used it,” he says.

Besides a lack of available content, LaPré also believes Matter Casting is a victim of brand confusion. The problem: TV makers have begun to incorporate Matter into their devices to let consumers control smart lights and thermostats from the couch. Because of that, a TV that dons the Matter logo doesn’t necessarily support Matter Casting.

However, LaPré also believes that Matter Casting could get a boost from two new developments: Matter recently added support for cameras, which adds a new kind of homegrown content people may want to cast. And the consortium is also still working on taking casting beyond screens.

“Audio casting is something that we’re working on,” LaPré confirms. “A lot of speaker companies are interested in that.” The plan is to launch Matter audio casting later this year, at which point device makers, publishers, and consumers could also give video casting another look.