Advanced Television

Roku follows Netflix to UK and Ireland

January 11, 2012

By Colin Mann

Hot on the heels of Netflix’s January 9 arrival in the UK and Ireland, streaming platform Roku has revealed its launch in Europe, with the first of its streaming players now available for purchase in the UK and Ireland. Consumers living in those two countries can choose from two of Roku’s best-selling models in the US – the Roku LT and the Roku 2 XS – with both now available for pre-order at Amazon.co.uk.

Roku currently features more than 40 channels of content in the UK and Ireland including on-demand films and programmes from Netflix and Crackle (Crackle is currently not available in Ireland); live and on-demand sports from MLB.TV and Ultimate Fighting Championship organisation; music from Classical TV and TuneIn; photos and videos from Facebook and Flickr; news and entertainment from WSJ Live from the Wall Street Journal, FoxNews.com and others from around the world – plus casual games such as Angry Birds. Roku expects to announce additional major content channels by the time its players ship to customers in the UK and Ireland

“Roku launched the first ever streaming player to deliver Netflix to consumers in the US and now we are among the first to bring Netflix to residents of the UK and Ireland,” said Clive Hudson, vice president and general manager for Europe at Roku. “In addition to Netflix, we are launching with a variety of entertainment channels and look forward to expanding our content selection in the same way that we have in the US where we have more than 400 channels today.”

“Roku players will offer new Netflix members in the UK and Ireland a great streaming experience with high-quality video delivered through an easy-to-use product with an attractive price,” said Greg Peters, vice president of product development at Netflix. “We’re happy to count Roku amongst the devices that stream films and TV programmes to the TVs of our new members in these countries.”

The Roku LT is the lowest-cost option for streaming Roku’s video and music entertainment directly to a TV, without a PC. The Roku LT connects to the Internet instantly via built-in WiFi and supports up to 720p high-definition video. The Roku 2 XS features the content found on the Roku LT and adds casual games including Angry Birds. The Roku 2 XS supports up to 1080p high-definition video and includes an Ethernet port, in addition to built-in WiFi, for a wired Internet connection. It also includes a USB port for playing music, videos and photos off of any USB drive. Both the Roku LT and the Roku 2 XS connect to standard-definition or high-definition TVs via RCA or HDMI.

The Roku LT and the Roku 2 XS are available for pre-order now at www.Amazon.co.uk for suggested retail prices of £49.99 and £99.99 respectively. Both models are expected to ship at the end of January. Additional retailers in the UK will be announced at a later date.

 

Categories: Articles, Connected TV, Content, OTT, OTT, Rights