TV aggregator Roku to launch its players in Germany

RTL SA

06/09/2021 21:00

BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Television aggregator Roku Inc
 ROKU.O  said on Monday it would launch its streaming players in
Germany later this year, its second big European rollout,
seeking to capitalize on a pandemic-driven shift towards
watching more video on demand.
    Roku will offer content from local partners Seven.One
Entertainment Group  PSMGn.DE , RTL Deutschland  RRTL.DE  and
Comcast Corp's  CMCSA.O  Sky Deutschland, as well as big names
Netflix Inc  NFLX.O , Amazon.com Inc's  AMZN.O  Amazon Prime and
Walt Disney Co's  DIS.N  Disney+.
    San Jose, California-based Roku started in 2008 by marketing
streaming players before developing a proprietary operating
system that, it says, offers a smooth and easy interface for
choosing what to watch on TV.
    In Germany, Roku would compete with rivals including the
Amazon Fire TV stick and Google Chromecast. 
    Building on its core U.S. franchise, Roku entered the UK
market https://www.reuters.com/article/tech-ifa-roku-idCNL3N25Y038
 two years ago as a software partner for smart TV maker Hisense,
but is taking a different approach in Germany by going in first
with its plug-in player. 
    "There is a very big secular shift to streaming - that's a
trend that was accelerated last year by the pandemic," Arthur
van Rest, the executive leading Roku's international expansion,
told Reuters in an interview.
    Instead of passively consuming scheduled programming,
viewers increasingly watch what they want, when they want to.
"TV and the way that it's being consumed are shifting
dramatically - and we are right at the heart of that," he added.
    Roku's focus on offering the best platform for viewing video
on demand means, said van Rest, that it expects to displace
existing smart TVs as the software installed by the manufacturer
fails to keep pace.
    At the same time, offering an attractive interface is
interesting both for publishers and advertisers as they seek to
tap in to a German market where nearly half of households
already have one or more subscription video deals.
    Details on pricing of its streaming players and its retail
distribution partners will follow, Roku said. Roku charges 29.99
pounds ($41.48) a month for its streaming player in Britain,
with users paying for subscription channels like Netflix on top.

 (Reporting by Douglas Busvine in Berlin
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
 ((douglas.busvine@tr.com; +49 30 220 133 562;))