The Morgan Murphy CBS affiliate in Madison, Wis., is using Roku to deliver local news from its Channel3000.com to consumers TV sets. “Our new Roku channel will extend the WISC-TV over-the-air brand and our Channel3000.com brand by making it easy to view our Web video on television,” said Brian Burns.
DMA 85
WISC Launches Local News Channel On Roku
Morgan Murphy-owned CBS affiliate WISC Madison, Wis. (DMA 85), and its Channel3000.com website have joined with Roku to launch a local news channel delivering all the content from WISC’s website to the big screen in the living room.
The Roku platform represents an opportunity for content owners and publishers to reach their audience in a new, non-traditional way by using a broadband connection in the home to deliver high-quality content to television sets.
“The Roku Channel Store turns the Roku player into the world’s first open platform designed specifically for the TV,” said Anthony Wood, founder-CEO of Roku Inc. “Local content producers like WISC-TV can deliver their online video directly to consumers without having to go exclusively through cable operators and satellite networks providing an entirely new distribution channel overnight.”
“Our new Roku channel will extend the WISC-TV over-the-air brand and our Channel3000.com brand by making it easy to view our Web video on television,” said Brian Burns, Morgan Murphy Media VP-COO. “As we’ve experienced through channel3000.com, Madison’s No. 1 website, viewers want easy access to our local content through non-traditional means and they want to watch it in the comfort of their living room on their big screen TV. Establishing this partnership with Roku will be a major win for all our non-traditional viewers. Soon we hope to launch Roku channels at our stations in La Crosse, Wis., and Spokane, Wash.”
Roku estimates tens of thousands of its Roku players have been sold in Wisconsin and said it expects this new agreement with WISC will open the door to new channels with local broadcasters throughout the United States. “For years TV stations have been posting their video on the Web and now their Web video is easily available on TV sets,” said Wood. “In addition, displaced residents across the country can tune into the local news of their choice as more channels like WISC-TV come to the Roku platform.”
Customers can now add the WISC channel to their Roku player by going into the Roku Channel Store on their TV and look under the News section. The channel and its content are free.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Click here to see a sample of what’s on the WISC Roku channel.
Comments (7)
Anthony Everett says:
April 15, 2011 at 11:13 am
neat
Kathryn Miller says:
April 15, 2011 at 11:24 am
And, this is something that a well-run, forward-thinking broadcaster can do. Compare this to Google Tv, which wants you to give them your content for free, disintermediate the link between content originator and consumer, and make broadcasters and networks vassals, while helping to work to take your “unused” (but occupied and vibrant) spectrum.
Cassandra Hamilton says:
April 15, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Meaningless. Short sighted. Gives the FCC more evidence to take your OTA spectrum away. A thin client computer, equipped with concurrent dual band 802.11n, Bluetooth, and a wireles keyboard, may be attached to a HDTV, and can do the same thng. The survival of OTA depends on quality multicasting and FREE ADVERTISING SUPPORTED mobile/handheld. If OTA braodcasters keep wasting time on this internet nonsense then OTA dies because you took your eye off the ball. The Verizon and AT&T Wireless executives love you guys. They do NOT have to murder you. You are tryng to commit suicide. Every OTA sation (Full Power, Low Power, Other) should be digital before the next US Congress Session. All should be doing multicasting and mobile/handheld.
Christina Perez says:
April 15, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Exactly correct.
Kathryn Miller says:
April 15, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Philly: have you bought your ATSC Mobile/Handheld device 7 inch screen for less than 180 bucks, from http://www.rcaportabletv.com? You’ve been asking for this for some time, and it’s available today. Receives regular (fixed) broadcasts as well, and takes aa batteries. What are you waiting for?
E B says:
April 16, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Exactly wrong, David. Consumers are in control. The days of waiting for the 6 o’clock news ended about 20 years ago, and you had better adjust your little top-down, 1950 business model.
William Winborne says:
April 16, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Would love to see local news on AppleTV. Heck, I’d buy a Roku is that’s what it takes. Anything to cut the cable/satellite tether.