AlphaAtlas
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2018
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Roku already offers a wide array of video streaming services in the form of "apps" available from their store. But in my experience, the quality of these apps varies widely, and juggling accounts and billing methods for different services can be a pain. Following the the footsteps of Amazon, Reuters reports that Roku will soon offer a premium video channel service through the Roku Channel App, where billing and streaming are done through Roku themselves. Showtime and Starz are among the first free channels that will be available on the service, and Roku will reportedly extend support to mobile devices.
The move by the device maker, which spun off of Netflix in 2008, resembles the lucrative channels business Amazon launched in 2015 that resold video services on an “a la carte” basis, which has been copied by a variety of rivals. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is expected to launch its own streaming video service that will adopt a similar model, people familiar with the plan have said. Amazon’s Channels business, which has been popular among subscribers of Amazon Prime and has been a big revenue contributor for participating media companies, is expected to have generated $1.7 billion in 2018, according to a recent BMO Capital Markets report, more than doubling since 2017.
The move by the device maker, which spun off of Netflix in 2008, resembles the lucrative channels business Amazon launched in 2015 that resold video services on an “a la carte” basis, which has been copied by a variety of rivals. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is expected to launch its own streaming video service that will adopt a similar model, people familiar with the plan have said. Amazon’s Channels business, which has been popular among subscribers of Amazon Prime and has been a big revenue contributor for participating media companies, is expected to have generated $1.7 billion in 2018, according to a recent BMO Capital Markets report, more than doubling since 2017.