Last September, The Roku Channel app was introduced for customers to view hundreds of free movies and TV shows via their Roku streaming devices. The app"s trove of entertainment content from current publishers including FilmRise and Vidmark has since grown in number.
In response to customers" request for live and linear news on The Roku Channel app, the streaming company has added free live news content from ABC News, Cheddar, People TV, and more channels to the app.
Users will be able to gain access to content from ABC News Live, the network’s new live streaming channel for breaking news and live events, via the app on any Roku device. Additionally, live and linear news feeds from Cheddar, People TV, and other partners will now become available to Roku customers.
Rob Holmes, Vice President of Programming at Roku, said:
Today, we’re working with some of the industry’s most forward-looking news organizations such as ABC News, Cheddar, People TV, and others, to deliver yet another customer-requested feature to The Roku Channel – live and linear news. ABC News has been at the forefront of producing and delivering live news for OTT viewing and we"re excited to have them on-board as one of our anchor news partners.
The Roku Channel app has also received a number of discovery features such as "Collections," which allows users to find content in curated thematic libraries, and “Continue Watching," which lets customers pick up where they left off. Roku says it will release the two features to customers in gradual stages beginning next month.
Roku will also roll out several improvements to the customers" streaming experience starting in May through the Roku OS 8.1 update. The new OS version will introduce multicast private listening to multiple devices through the Roku mobile app, allowing up to four iOS or Android device users to listen to the TV through their headphones.
Source: Roku