http://www.businessinsider.com/roku-files-for-an-initial-public-offering-2017-9
Roku has made official what's been rumored: It wants to go public.
The digital media player maker publicly filed its S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday - the first big step for a company seeking an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares.
The company plans to list shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker "ROKU."
[...] As of June 30, Roku had 15.1 million active accounts on its service, according to the filing. Customers using Roku devices or TV's with its interface streamed 6.7 billion hours of internet video in the first half of 2017 - up 62% from the same period in 2016, the company said in the filing.
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Roku In Talks To Acquire Rights To Quibi's Library – Report
According to the Wall Street Journal, Roku is nearing a deal to buy the content catalog of Quibi, the short-form mobile streaming platform launched by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman that launched in April 2020 before shuttering in December.
The WSJ reports that Roku would acquire the rights to Quibi's content but the specific details and financial terms of the proposed deal haven't been revealed and the deal could still fall through.
Also at The Verge and The Wrap:
Quibi's deals with its content producers were atypical of other platforms, in that the creators owned their stuff. Quibi's deals allowed for the service to feature those shows on its service for seven years. The WSJ, citing people familiar with the discussions, added that some of the contracts stipulate that the content cannot air on other platforms. However, an individual familiar with Roku's stance argued that it would not prevent Roku from being able to stream the content, the report added.
Roku content includes series like Anna Kendrick's "Dummy," "Most Dangerous Game" starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz, as well as Antoine Fuqua's "#FreeRayshawn," which scored a pair of Emmy wins.
Maybe Quibi's carcass will spawn an entertaining short-form lawsuit.
Previously: Meg Whitman-Run Streaming Service "Quibi" Launches, Reception Mixed
The Fall of Quibi: How Did a Starry $1.75bn Netflix Rival Crash So Fast?
Founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman Announce Impending Death of "Quibi" Streaming Service
Related: Roku Media Player Maker Seeking IPO
Roku has refreshed its lineup of TV streaming sticks and boxes, shortly after Apple and Amazon released similar products. Roku now has a device that supports 2160p resolution and high dynamic range:
Roku just announced updates to five of its TV streaming products, as well as a new operating system that marries access to over-the-air TV with video streaming services. The announcements from Roku come after both Apple and Amazon have revealed updates to their own video streaming boxes in recent weeks, with all three companies pushing further into the home with things like 4K, voice control, and improved search functionality.
Roku's low-cost streaming sticks are getting the most interesting updates. The basic Roku streaming stick, which at $49.99 is priced the same as last year's model, is getting a processor update that Roku claims is 50 percent faster. The remote is also getting voice control functionality, along with power and volume buttons to control those functions on your TV set.
Then there's the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, which now supports HDR and 4K Ultra HD. It also has four times the wireless range of the basic stick, which is partly enabled by the wireless module being built directly into the cable, rather than the stick itself. The idea is that moving it away from the television reduces interference. This one, which effectively replaces last year's Roku Premiere 4K box, will cost $69.99.
Also at Ars Technica and Roku.
Previously: Roku OS 7: Developer Highlights
Roku Media Player Maker Seeking IPO
Related: MPAA Chief Focuses Attention on the Kodi Platform
Kodi Panic in the UK and Popularity in North America
Kodi Add-on Library "TVAddons" Disappears After Lawsuit
Apple Investing $1 Billion in Acquiring and Producing TV Shows
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:13AM
"The Roku is an open-platform device with a freely available software development kit that enables anyone to create new channels.[54] The channels are written in a Roku-specific language called BrightScript, a scripting language the company describes as 'unique', but "similar to Visual Basic" and "similar to JavaScript"."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku [wikipedia.org]
Unique they say, maybe in horror!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:17PM (1 child)
So, is there a simple sample app for serving a channel of your movies to your Roku at home?
Perhaps Python bottle
Hopefully, with the 1:10 voting ratio, the new stock offering won't break Roku with investor weirdness.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:49PM
The emby media server "channel" is clumsy but works reasonably well. Emby doesn't really understand that it needs to translate iso format into something the roku understands. Relatively normal avi and mp4 files work fine, as output by Handbrake. I have a simple fairly obvious bash script that eats the iso or whatever in one directory, feeds it to handbrake's CLI, and outputs to another directory. I'm told handbrake has a nice gui but I've never used it or needed it.
Emby's funding model is its free but if you pay money the remote NAT busting mobile app works using their central servers as a middleman. I like the software and support it by buying the lifetime subscription or whatever. I don't think the roku channel needs that as you're probably not crossing a NAT boundary.
Emby and its emby app/channel on roku is strangely ahead of and far behind mythtv simultaneously, which is a whole nother topic. I suppose roku is also in strange ways far ahead of and far behind mythtv.
One of the big problems with roku boxes is most have the idea there's one box, the one they have. Of course in reality there are like 30 models over history, so my anecdote above about a box that is about 3 years old is probably WTF to owners of the other 29 models of roku.
Its about as reliable as a windows box. I should have it on a christmas light timer to reboot it regular, but when its not crashed or locked up it works pretty well. My favorite failure mode is when it crashes and the RF remote retransmits a command apparently infinitely. So you pick up the remote, no response, huh batteries must be dead, test the batteries, yeah they're dead, replace the batteries, now we got LED on the remote but the roku is still frozen on the title screen or whatever, now I power cycle the main box and it comes up. Killed quite a few batteries this way.
I've seen the appleTV, my SiL has one, and the roku is about the same, objectively. Of course if you're into drinking the Apple Kool aide, then the roku is trash and and appleTV is a trillion times better.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bziman on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:30PM
I love my Roku enough that I was able to cancel my satellite TV subscription almost two years ago. That said, I'm not sure I would buy stock in a company that isn't profitable... especially not when they have to compete with (inferior but cheaper) devices from Apple, Amazon, and Google. Not to mention many TVs that have that sort of integration built in. Sure, they are best of breed... but so was TiVo. I hope Roku fares better, but I'm not betting my investment dollars on it.