Roku is getting into the programming biz. While its current offerings, like The Karate Kid and Legally Blonde, can be found elsewhere on streaming services, Roku is now launching the Roku Channel, which will include hundred of Roku-licensed movies you can only find on that service. The company is working with the likes of Lionsgate, MGM, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Warner Bros. to make the deal happen, and it’ll be phased in “over the coming weeks.”

Deadline reports that in addition to movie studios, Roku will include content from American Classics, Fandor, FilmRise, Nosey, OVGuide, Popcornflix, Vidmark, YuYu, and other companies that want to attract more viewers. Until now, Roku focused on selling devices like streaming boxes and video sticks, and the Roku Channel will allow the company to grow its user base to compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Still, the Roku Channel is licensed content, not originals, which Netflix and Amazon and the like confine to their own services.

CEO Anthony Wood says that Roku’s mission “is to be the TV streaming platform that connects the entire TV ecosystem. We connect consumers with the content they love. We help content publishers find their audience and make money. We are pushing TV advertising out of the 1940s — when Bulova watches launched the first TV ad — and into the data-driven, machine learning, era of relevant and interactive TV ads. We partner with TV brands and service operators so they can thrive in this rapidly changing ad world. will be powered by a purpose-built operating system optimized for streaming.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTZhbYxfnpE

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