January 17, 2011 5:14 PM
by Tim Conneally
À la carte cable programming comes to Roku for the first time
Roku's streaming set-top box has been an unequivocal success for the "over the top" content industry, bringing streaming video on demand to millions of homes. Today, Roku announced it has gotten its first "port" of a cable channel in its channel store: WealthTV.
When I say "port," I mean users who tune into the WealthTV channel on their Roku set top box will see the same thing that WealthTV is broadcasting to its cable partners.
Now, irrespective of their Internet provider, users will be able to add WealthTV for $2.99 per month.
"Fans that can't get our network from their local video provider can now enjoy our…programming lineup via Roku," said Robert Herring, Sr., founder and CEO of WealthTV. "We've received a large volume of consumer requests to expand our distribution to connected devices, and this deployment will let us gauge the acceptability and viability of alternative distribution methods for our traditional cable feed."
Whether or not you are interested in the content, it is a true example of a la carte linear programming, something that has thus far been frowned upon by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, and one of the great possibilities offered by over-the-top content distribution.
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