Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorRoku is thinking local: In the streaming platform’s first local news programming pact, Roku is adding eight NBC local news channels to the Roku Channel — available to stream live for free.Through the partnership, NBCUniversal Local will bring local news channels from its owned-and-operated NBC stations in eight major U.S.
markets — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Conn., and South Florida — to the Roku Channel.
Additional NBCUniversal Local channels will be added to the Roku Channel’s Live TV Guide in the coming months, according to the companies.The NBC channels feature local news, breaking updates, weather forecasts and live events from each market.
Roku Channel’s national news options already include NBC News Now, the media company’s free, ad-supported news service. “Audiences are increasingly opting to consume news through streaming, and local news has consistently been one of the top-requested categories by our users,” said Ashley Hovey, head of ad-supported VOD for the Roku Channel. “We’re excited to work with NBCUniversal Local and the NBC Stations to expand our relevant live TV offering for streamers and to bring news from multiple major cities to millions of viewers across the country to easily access and enjoy.”By adding NBC’s local news channels, Roku is furthering its goal of becoming the one-stop-shop for cord-cutters.
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