Roku to power Telstra TV OTT
July 28, 2015
Entertainment streaming platform Roku has confirmed that Australian telco Telstra has joined the Roku Powered licensing programme. As part of the strategic agreement, Telstra will leverage the Roku streaming platform to deliver its new streaming service and player, Telstra TV, to consumers. The Telstra TV streaming service will launch later this year in Australia and will bundle its own BigPond movie service together with the most popular streaming services including Presto, Stan, Netflix and various catch up TV channels. Telstra is the fourth operator after Sky UK, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to join the Roku Powered licensing programme.
“Strong interest among consumers for on-demand entertainment and increasing availability of OTT content is driving operators to launch Internet-delivered television services,” said Andrew Ferrone, vice president of Pay TV at Roku. “The Roku Powered programme is a great solution for operators like Telstra looking to leverage our streaming platform and players to deliver a next-generation TV experience that integrates their own video services with third-party OTT services. Telstra is an industry leader and through our partnership they will bring a great streaming experience to Australian consumers this fall.”
“Roku pioneered streaming and continues to innovate in new ways that make it easier and more convenient for consumers to watch entertainment they love. Licensing the Roku streaming platform enables us to launch a streaming service and player without the magnitude of cloud services, software and tools otherwise needed to become an OTT operator,” said Joe Pollard, group managing director Media and Marketing at Telstra. “Roku already has millions of pleased customers and thousands of content partners and a handful of licensing partners, the platform has clearly proven itself in terms of scalability, richness and, most importantly, engagement.”