roku

Because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco) and on our new EBIF Intensive event (March 5th in San Francisco), we will be covering most stories in summary/round-up form over the next few weeks. Here is a round-up of the latest broadband video and over-the-top (OTT) news:

In an interview with Bloomberg News that was published Wednesday, Anthony Wood, CEO of over-the-top company, Roku, revealed that the company hopes to raise $30 million in private funding this quarter from Menlo Ventures and other sources, and that it may go public next year--though he added that it is not currently working with an investment bank and has yet to set a date for an IPO.

An adult entertainment company called EroticVision.TV (EVTV) has announced the launch of an over-the-top-TV service for the Roku platform, and says that it is currently developing similar services for other connected TV devices and platforms. At launch, the service features SD and HD content from fetish/BDSM Web site, Wasteland.com, though it is expected to offer access to other broadband video pornography sites over time.

MobileTribe--a company which describes itself as an enabler of cloud-based converged services across multiple screens and which recently announced the launch of a service that it bills as bringing online social networking to the Roku over-the-top-TV platform (see the article published on itvt.com, December 7th)--on Tuesday announced that the service now supports YouTube. The company previously announced support for Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Google, Flickr, Picasa and Yahoo.

Over-the-top-TV company, Roku (note: the company recently launched two new set-top boxes--see the article published on itvt.com, October 28th), on Sunday night announced the launch of the Roku Channel Store, together with 10 channels, all of which are offered free of charge to customers who want to add them to their Roku menu.

AnySource Media, a company that has developed an over-the-top-TV solution, called the Connected HDTV Platform, which it says will be embedded in certain new HDTV sets later this year (note: the company has not yet announced any partnerships with TV manufacturers) and will allow viewers to access hundreds of "virtual" on-demand channels "out of the box," announced Thursday that it has signed up social TV-enabled broadband video sharing service, Viddler, and instructional broadband video provider, Graspr, as content partners.

Over-the-top-TV company, Roku, announced a deal with MLB.com Monday night that will allow subscribers to the MLB.TV Premium service to watch live Major League Baseball games from across the US on its $99 Roku digital video player.

Mediafly, a company that offers a distribution platform for podcasts and other Internet multimedia series, said Monday that it has signed an over-the-top deal with Roku that sees it developing a version of its service for the latter's Roku Digital Video Player (note: the latter, which retails for $99.99, first came to prominence through an OTT partnership with Netflix that was announced in spring, 2008; it is also branded as the Netflix Player by Roku).

DVD rental service provider, Netflix, last week announced another over-the-top deal for its service with a consumer electronics company: starting in the fall, subscribers to Netflix's unlimited plan (priced from $8.99 per month) will be able to instantly watch more than 12,000 streamed movies and TV episodes on Sony Electronics' Bravia Internet-connected HDTV sets, as well as on previous Bravia models equipped with Sony's Bravia Internet video link module, the company said. The other CE companies that have recently signed OTT deals with Netflix are Microsoft (for the Xbox 360), LG Electronics, Roku, Samsung, TiVo and Vizio. "Sony has been a world leader in consumer electronics for decades," Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, said in a prepared statement.

Amazon.com announced Tuesday that it is now offering HD versions of current TV shows and movies on its Amazon Video On Demand service. At launch, around 500 HD programs and movies (programs include "Californication," "The Tudors," "Smallville" and "Gossip Girl" and movies include "Frost/Nixon," "Twilight," and "Yes Man") are available on the service, from such content providers as Warner Bros. Entertainment, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, MGM Studios, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Showtime Networks.