Not content anymore with just streaming Hollywood’s old shows and movies, Roku is looking to produce originals: The company published a job listing for a lead production attorney, which spells out plans to build out an “expanding slate of original content.” From a report: This renewed push into originals comes just weeks after Roku acquired Quibi’s content library, for which the…
Tag: roku
Roku Buys Quibi Content For Less Than $100 Million
phalse phace writes: After days of advanced talks to sell Quibi’s content library to Roku, the companies have finally reached a deal. According to Deadline, Roku will acquire most of Quibi’s content for less than $100 million. “The acquisition covers most of the Quibi library, but some daily news shows are not part of the package,” reports Deadline. “A key draw…
Roku Tops 51 Million Accounts, Becoming the Biggest Smart TV Platform in North America
Roku’s bet on smart TVs is paying off: Seven years after the company first began licensing its operating system to TV manufacturers, it has become a market leader in North America. Roku and its hardware partners sold more smart TVs in the U.S. in 2020 than competitors like Samsung, LG and Vizio, according to data from the NPD Group released by…
Discovery+ Launches Today
Discovery+, the new streaming channel from Discovery, is officially available in the U.S.. “The list of places where you can download Discovery+ is extensive, with almost every popular platform but the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 included in the company’s launch slate,” reports Engadget. From the report: Most notably, you can access the app through Amazon Fire TV streaming devices and…
Dish To Shut Down Slingbox, Devices Will Become ‘Inoperable’ In 2022
Dish Network announced that it will permanently shut down all of Sling Media’s Slingbox services and end support for the devices in two years, at which point they’ll no longer work. Variety reports: On Monday, Dish’s Sling Media unit announced that Slingbox servers will be permanently taken offline 24 months from Nov. 9, 2020. “Until then, most Slingbox models will continue…
How Ex-Facebook Data Experts Spent $75 Million On Targeted Anti-Trump Ads
The night before America’s election, Fast Company reported: On the internet, we’re subject to hidden A/B tests all the time, but this one was also part of a political weapon: a multimillion-dollar tool kit built by a team of Facebook vets, data nerds, and computational social scientists determined to defeat Donald Trump. The goal is to use microtargeted ads, follow-up surveys,…
Bug Allowed Hijacking Other Firefox Mobile Browsers on the Same Wi-Fi Network
“Mozilla has fixed a bug that can be abused to hijack all the Firefox for Android browsers on the same Wi-Fi network and force users to access malicious sites, such as phishing pages,” reports ZDNet: The bug was discovered by Chris Moberly, an Australian security researcher working for GitLab. The actual vulnerability resides in the Firefox SSDP component. SSDP stands for…
NBC Threatens To Black Out Apps on Roku in Dispute Over Peacock
NBCUniversal plans to black out more than 11 channels on Roku’s streaming platform Saturday morning, escalating a standoff with the company over its refusal to carry a new video app, Peacock. From a report: NBC’s Peacock and AT&T’s HBO Max have been unable to secure spots on Roku and Amazon.com’s Fire TV since launching their streaming services earlier this year. Roku…
Why HBO Max and Peacock Aren’t On Roku
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: It’s been months since HBO Max and Peacock officially launched, and still, neither streaming service currently appears on the Roku platform (or Amazon, for that matter). The companies have said discussions about support were ongoing, but now we know why they’re still absent: Roku’s support fees are expensive as hell. In a deep-dive…
Comcast is Looking To Enter the Smart TV Wars
Comcast wants to turn the software running on its set-top boxes into an operating system for smart TVs, Protocol reported Friday, citing multiple industry insiders with knowledge of the company’s plans. From the report: The company began pitching TV manufacturers on the idea in recent months and had some conversations on the subject at CES in January. It’s unclear how far…