The Roku channel, the free ad-supported broadcast service packaged on every new Roku device, is about to expand its TV and movie offerings to the world of news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week . Starting soon, you'll see four news sources, such as ABC News, Cheddar, Newsy and People TV, in the service.
Services, says Roku, will be more than just playlists of videos provided by each news organization. , but a combination of live content and linear news. In the case of ABC News, all this content is controlled live in a format that Roku expects to be the blueprint for other important OTT broadcast news networks.
"Now more than ever, people want to know what's happening in the world from a direct news source they know and trust," said Colby Smith, vice president of ABC News Digital. "After experimenting with thousands of live broadcasts and analyzing the data, we are excited to launch ABC News Live for the younger viewers who increasingly trust Roku and non-linear platforms for their news"
Regarding the Roku channel , is Growing in popularity. In a conversation with TechRadar, Rob Holmes, Vice President of Programming at Roku, says that the free streaming service is now one of the top 15 channels on the Roku platform, as well as the # 3 channel supported by ads.
Also new to the Roku Channel are collections, essentially packages of television programs or films that Roku assembles internally to meet a specific need of its customers. You might see an Action TV package, for example, that combines martial arts movies, police dramas, and superhero movies. This, says Holmes, will provide viewers with a series of options based on their general tastes.
Roku, part of four, his TV show is ready
Coming soon this year is Roku OS 8.1. It will include a number of improvements, but the feature that stands out is the addition of private listening support for up to four devices.
Ideally, this means that you and up to four friends or family members can listen to the same TV show or movie through the Roku TV app without disturbing the rest of the house.
Prior to this, private hearing was limited to one at a time through the headphone jack built into some of the high-end Roku remotes or into the Roku TV application.
Roku OS 8.1 is expected to deploy devices such as Roku Ultra, Roku Streaming Stick + and Roku Express, among others, starting in May.
