ABC’s new livestreaming news channel, ABC News Live, is making its exclusive debut on Roku’s ad-supported channel.
ABC News Live, the network’s new 24/7 livestreaming channel, will use worldwide resources of ABC News to deliver news in a streaming format. The new channel will compete with current streaming news channels like CBSN and upcoming SVOD services like Fox News’ Fox Nation.
“Now more than ever people want to find out what’s happening in the world from a straightforward news source they know and trust,” said Colby Smith, vice president of ABC News Digital, in a statement. “After experimenting with thousands of livestreams and analyzing the data, we’re excited to launch ABC News Live for younger viewers who increasingly rely on Roku and nonlinear platforms for their news."
The Roku Channel is also adding live news coverage from Cheddar and People TV.
“We built The Roku Channel so it’s easy to navigate, offers great content and brings real value to our customers,” said Rob Holmes, vice president of programming at Roku, in a statement. “Today, we’re working with some of the industry’s most forward-looking news organizations such as ABC News, Cheddar, People TV, and others, to deliver yet another customer-requested feature to The Roku Channel—live and linear news. ABC News has been at the forefront of producing and delivering live news for OTT viewing and we're excited to have them on board as one of our anchor news partners.”
RELATED: Roku Channel launching on some Samsung smart TVs
In September 2017, Roku launched its ad-supported channel with feature films from studios including Lionsgate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Brothers, as well as content from existing channel publishers like American Classics, Fandor, FilmRise, Nosey, OVGuide, Popcornflix, Vidmark and YuYu.