Posted on Sep 28, 2009 by emily at 8:09 am
CNET recently announced that podcast aggregator, Mediafly will soon be available on the Roku media player. Mediafly will make content available from popular television and web content providers, including Comedy Central, CNN, ESPN, and NBC. While these programs are easily available on a PC, the Mediafly channel should provide a quick and easy way to enjoy them on a TV or living room audio system as well. The capability to access audio and video podcasts exists on competing products such as Apple TV and TiVo DVRs, but both of them are considerably more expensive than the $99 Roku box.
For the full story from CNET, click here.
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CNET, cnn, comedy central, espn, FrameChannel, mediafly, nbc, Netflix, podcast, roku, Set Top Box
Posted on Jul 10, 2009 by emily at 7:55 am
LOS GATOS, Calif., July 9 — Netflix, Inc., (NASDAQ: NFLX) the world’s largest online movie rental service, today announced a partnership with Sony Electronics that will enable Netflix subscribers to instantly watch movies streamed from Netflix on Sony’s BRAVIA Internet Video-capable HDTVs and on previous BRAVIA models compatible with Sony’s BRAVIA Internet video link module.
In the fall, Netflix members on an unlimited plan can use the Sony BRAVIA Internet Video-capable HDTVs to instantly watch more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix.
Sony is the latest consumer electronics (CE) company to partner with Netflix. Other CE companies partnering with Netflix are Microsoft (with the Xbox360), LG Electronics, Roku, Samsung, TiVo and VIZIO.
Netflix members pay as little as $8.99 a month for unlimited streaming from a library of more than 12,000 choices and unlimited DVDs by mail from a library of more than 100,000 DVD titles in more than 200 genres.
“Sony has been a world leader in consumer electronics for decades,” said Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings. “We are proud to include Sony Electronics among our CE partners who continue to provide new and exciting ways for Netflix members to instantly watch movies and TV episodes in their living rooms on their TVs.”
About Netflix, Inc.
Netflix, Inc. is the world’s largest online movie rental service, with more than ten million subscribers. For one low monthly price, Netflix members can get DVDs delivered to their homes and can instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed to their TVs and PCs, all in unlimited amounts. Members can choose from over 100,000 DVD titles and a growing library of more than 12,000 choices that can be watched instantly. There are never any due dates or late fees. DVDs are delivered free to members by first class mail, with a postage-paid return envelope, from 58 distribution centers. More than 97 percent of Netflix members live in areas that generally receive shipments in one business day. Netflix is also partnering with leading consumer electronics companies to offer a range of devices that can instantly stream movies and TV episodes to members’ TVs from Netflix. For more information, visit http://www.netflix.com/.
SOURCE: Netflix, Inc.
Web site: http://www.netflix.com/
Posted on Jun 8, 2009 by emily at 8:10 am
Lots of rumors have been circulating about the possibility of Hulu support on Roku players. With hundreds of movies and TV shows available on the Roku player from NetFlix and Amazon.com, the addition of Hulu could make Roku the top set top box.
This does beg the question – will Hulu remain free? News Corp’s (the company that owns Hulu) chief digital officer Jonathan Miller has been quoted saying he “envisions a future where at least some of the TV shows and movies on Hulu, the premium video site co-owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and Disney, are available only to subscribers.” A paid model would certainly put a dent in the overall number of Hulu users, but would likely be readily adopted by those with set top boxes.
Time will tell what the future holds for Hulu and Roku, but it seems like a great pairing. I know I’d be more likely to buy a Roku player if they added Hulu support.
Posted on Nov 26, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:40 am
Following in the successful footsteps of Netflix, with the Roku player, and TiVO, rumor has it that Blockbuster may unveil a set top box before Christmas. This is the second time the rumor has come up in the last few months – hard to know whether that makes it more likely to be true or not.
The box would allow customers to download online rentals from Movielink over the Internet and then watch them on their TVs in the same way that Roku player works with Netflix’s Watch Instantly service.
As I always say about these kinds of products, features may be the make of break point of differentiation here and these set top boxes are perfect platforms for software that delivers not just movies over the Internet, but also photos, news, scores, cartoons, and other content. A first mover advantage is there for the taking.
Posted on Oct 10, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:52 am
I noted a couple months ago when Tim Twerdahl, the vp of consumer affairs at Roku, the company that makes a
Netflix-playing set top box, said that the company was seeking other partners to provide content to the device.
Well, it seems Roku is getting even more serious about this. In late September, the company’s CEO, Anthony Wood, said:
“We’re opening up the platform to anyone who wants to put their video service on this box … We’re going to release the software developer kit, so anyone can publish any channel, and users can access web content on their TVs.”
No word on the timeline for this happening yet, but it’s an appealing prospect. More official content partners is great, of course, but user-contributed channels is even more exciting: opening content development to third parties usually unleashes creativity and capacity (iPhone App Store ring any bells?).
Here’s hoping we see some channels that take advantage of the player not only to deliver video, but also other kinds of web-supplied content.
Posted on Aug 4, 2008 by Sam Costello at 2:46 am
Roku is best known among gadget lovers as the company that offers the home music-networking device SoundBridge. It’s rapidly gaining a reputation, though, as a player in the set-top box space with the arrival of its Netflix Player, a small, Internet-connected device that streams Netflix’s selection of Watch Instantly movies over the Internet direct to your TV.
As I’ve noted a number of times in this space, these Internet-connected set-top boxes may be the future of entertainment in the home and Roku has a big advantage being so closely tied to Netflix and its content (Netflix is also a minority owner). In the wake of apparent initial success of the Netflix Player, the company is looking to expand.
In a company profile, Roku’s VP of consumer affairs, Tim Twerdahl, mentions that the company will be looking to add support for content from other “big name” providers via a software update later this year.
I’ve long thought that these kinds of home media servers could expand beyond movies and music to web-delivered photos from services like Flickr or FrameChannel. After all, when all the screens in your home are WiFi-enabled, why not serve different content to different screens from a single hub?
It will be interesting to see if Roku capitalizes on its momentum and buzz to exand beyond just movies over the web to add photos, as well.
