The Roku Channel is upping its regional news content, adding today four new Spanish-language linear channels from NBCUniversal’s Telemundo.
The free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels are made available through an expanded partnership between Roku and NBCU. Earlier this year, The Roku Channel beefed up its local news slate by adding several NBC local channels. NBCU and Roku have also renewed their deal to run NBC News Now programming on The Roku Channel.
New channels from Telemundo include:
· Noticias Telemundo California
· Noticias Telemundo Florida
· Noticias Telemundo Noreste
· Noticias Telemundo Texas
More NBCU-owned channels are coming to The Roku Channel, with Dateline 24/7, Today all Day and Sky News International set to launch by early 2023.
“We’re pleased to expand our partnership with NBCUniversal to bring more of its premium news lineup, including national, local, international, and Spanish-language regional news channels, to The Roku Channel,” stated Ashley Hovey, head of The Roku Channel AVOD. “Audiences are increasingly streaming news, and we are thrilled to work with NBCUniversal, home to some of the industry’s most respected news organizations, to continue bringing our users a robust lineup of valuable news programming.”
NBCU and Roku’s renewed agreement comes just a few months after The Roku Channel added three more NBC local news channels to its lineup. Other NBCU content on the platform include The Rotten Tomatoes FAST channel, as well as on-demand TV shows like “Will & Grace” and “Friday Night Lights.”
News is a genre that particularly fuels FAST growth, as research firm TVREV pointed out in a recent report on the FAST landscape. TVREV’s Alan Wolk wrote local news “still very much resonates with viewers, possibly even more so these days as local newspapers close down and/or become part of larger conglomerates.”
News was flagged as one of the top five most popular categories on Comcast’s Xumo platform, per a Comcast Advertising study on FAST penetration.
The four new Telemundo channels enhance The Roku Channel’s Spanish-language offering. Roku in June launched Espacio Latino, an aggregator of Spanish-language content from Telemundo, TelevisaUnivision and other partners.
Also joining The Roku Channel today are the QVC and HSN networks, which will collectively live stream about 40 hours of shopping programming per day on Roku’s FAST platform.
These additions build onto Roku’s foray in the shoppable TV space. Roku in June teamed up with Walmart to test shoppable ads, enabling consumers to buy Walmart products directly from Roku’s platform.
QVC and HSN also have a combined shoppable streaming app, which launched on Samsung smart TVs in September. The app allows viewers to complete purchases within the app and access a variety of QVC and HSN’s on-demand and live TV content.