Roku has now announced a new “Roku TV Ready” program designed to highlight third-party devices that seamlessly work with Roku TV devices. Over the past few years, Roku has continued to grow its presence in the home entertainment market by expanding sales of its hardware, as well as expanding on the features offered through its software.
Right now, you can buy a Roku player or a third-party TV running Roku OS and benefit from an easy to use and feature-rich ecosystem. However, it now looks like Roku wants to expand the ease of use and richer features to devices that don’t naturally run on Roku OS. Making it easier for consumers to build out their home entertainment setup while also building it out around Roku’s ecosystem.
Roku explains the purpose of the new Roku TV Ready program is to make it as easy as possible to control and use other devices, including soundbars and audio/video receivers that are paired with a device powered by Roku OS. This might include additional features that enrich the experience offered by both products, or more simply, better remote access and control over additional devices through the Roku TV remote. In addition, the new certification will also result in a smoother setup in general, and easier access to the third-party product settings.
The company says an update will arrive in 2020 adding Roku TV Ready features to Roku TV models.
Expects to see Roku TV Ready products this year
As well as announcing the new program, Roku has also confirmed a number of third-party brands have already signed up. According to Roku, the first to make a Roku TV Ready product announcement will be TCL. This is a company that has already launched plenty of products that are powered by Roku’s software, making it an ideal partner to promote the new program.
Following TCL, Sound United is also now expected to launch new products under the Denon brand with additional Roku TV Ready features. In addition, some of these features will be retrospectively added to existing Denon products via a software update that’s due to roll out later in the year.
When a company does release a new Roku TV Ready device, consumers can expect to see “Roku TV Ready” marketing and branding on the package making it easier for them to identify products that are designed to play nicely with their Roku TV setup at home
Source: Roku
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