Roku is redoubling efforts to get its Internet video-streaming platform embedded into TVs.
The company said it plans to team with manufacturers on 4K Ultra HD television sets — along with a partnership with Netflix to deliver 4K content through the TVs — and also has reached a deal with Best Buy, which will introduce a Roku-based HDTV under the retailer’s high-end Insignia brand. The news is timed for the 2015 International CES trade show this week in Las Vegas.
Roku is best known for its standalone set-tops, which provide access to more than 2,000 channels of Internet-delivered video, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Amazon Video and HBO Go. But to expand its footprint, the company wants to get baked inside millions of connected TVs: Last fall, the first Roku TV models from Chinese consumer-electronics giants TCL and Hisense began shipping in the U.S.
For Ultra HD, which offers four times the resolution of 1080p HD, Roku will license a reference design of its platform for 4K smart TVs to manufacturing partners. TCL is an initial partner that has signed on to build Roku-enabled 4K television sets.
Today, Ultra HD content…
Read the rest of the story at Variety.com.