Roku to add Mediafly channel
DIGITAL: More than 25,000 podcasts will be free to view
By Danny King -- Video Business, 7/22/2009
JULY 22 | DIGITAL: Roku, whose set-top boxes let Amazon.com and Netflix customers play digitally-delivered movie and TV titles on their TV sets, will add a channel dedicated to Mediafly podcasts, giving users access to more than 25,000 free audio and video podcasts.
Roku will unveil the Mediafly channel this fall, closely held Mediafly said in a blog posting earlier this week. The podcasts will include content from NBC, ABC and Fox as well as independent producers.
The agreement gives closely held Roku, which has distribution agreements with Amazon.com and Netflix, access to podcasts that Chicago-based Mediafly already provides to mobile users through such devices as Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry.
In March, Amazon.com began streaming its digital movie and TV titles through Roku set-top boxes, following through on an agreement that was signed in January. Closely held Roku’s $99 set-top boxes last year were the first components Netflix used to process its video-streaming titles directly to TVs after reaching an agreement last May to have its more than 12,000 digital titles capable of being viewed on TVs.
