Roku

Within the next few years, Roku anticipates that around half of all households in the United States will be cord-cutters -- and many of them will have never subscribed to a traditional pay-TV service. The detail was dropped amid Roku's latest quarterly results during which we learned that the company entered the new year with nearly 37 million active users. Roku CEO Anthony Wood called 2020 the start of the 'streaming decade.'

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Stop panicking, football fans. Roku and Fox have worked out a new deal that brought the network's apps back to the streaming platform. This means you'll be able to download the Fox Sports and Fox NOW apps and use them to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow as you may have planned to do before the carriage dispute caused a blackout. Other apps remain an option for streaming the game as well.

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If you're a Roku user, you may have noticed that Fox apps disappeared from the platform within the last 24 hours or so. That's due to a carriage dispute, it turns out, though the companies are arguing over whether the loss of the apps was actually necessary. The change happened just ahead of Super Bowl weekend, but Roku owners shouldn't panic -- they'll still be able to watch the big game on platforms like Hulu.

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Roku today announced that it will soon be pushing an update to its smart soundbars that will enable support for surround sound setups. At the same time, Walmart is launching new Roku wireless surround sound speakers through its onn brand, so if you need to buy additional speakers to pad out your surround sound setup once this update ships, Walmart is one of the companies vying for your dollar.

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TiVo was the name of the game back when DVRs were the hot thing in home entertainment. In recent times, the company has struggled to maintain its footing from the onslaught of streaming services and devices that provide similar functionality for less. Now it seems that a promised feature that would have helped maintain its popularity is now paused indefinitely, leaving Apple TV and Roku owners wondering how to best move forward.

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The 4K TV market is a packed one at the moment, but Hisense thinks it may have an ace in the hole: its proprietary ULED technology combined with Roku TV. Today, the company announced the R8F 4K Roku TV, which comes in two different display sizes and makes some big promises for the cost. Of course, Roku TV is one of the more popular smart TV platforms around, so Hisense is hoping that brings some of the Roku faithful into the fold.

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It has been a while since the class of technologies known as DRM or Digital Rights Management has been the focus on contention but the news surrounding Netflix's sudden withdrawal from some devices could put it back in the spotlight. It's only semi-official, considering Netflix has not yet issued a formal explanation, but it seems that affected devices are unable to keep up with such DRM systems, practically locking them out of the streaming service for good.

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Roku allows its users to control their streaming device using a mobile app instead of the remote control. This is convenient for times when the remote is lost, plus it comes in handy when the remote is on the other side of the room and you don't want to get off the sofa. Starting today, you no longer even have to pull out your smartphone.

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Roku offers a variety of streaming devices, and right there in the middle of pack (at least as far as pricing is concerned) is the Roku Streaming Stick+, which is capable of supporting 4K HDR streaming. The Streaming Stick+ strikes something of a balance between capability and size - as the name suggests, this is a streaming stick so it doesn't have the same footprint as something like the Roku Ultra, but the fact that it can stream in 4K puts it a step above some of Roku's other devices.

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We're quickly closing in on the launch of Apple TV+, and in preparation of that, Apple is rolling out its app to platforms beyond its own. Roku has announced that the Apple TV app is available on its platform beginning today. Those who download it will be able to use that app to access Apple TV+ when it launches on November 1st.

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If you're still using a very old Roku device, you're about to lose access to Netflix. The streaming service started notifying customers by email to let them know that it will be dropping support for some of the oldest Roku devices still in use, forcing consumers to finally upgrade to something newer, whether that means getting a new Roku model or a competing streaming option like Chromecast or Fire TV.

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Roku has teamed with Walmart to launch its new Onn Roku Smart Soundbar and Onn Roku Wireless Subwoofer. The two products are offered under Walmart's Onn brand at lower prices than Roku's previously launched Smart Soundbar product, offering better audio than one would get from their TV's built-in speakers, but at a price that makes the devices affordable for most consumers.

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