Apple TV App Comes to Roku

Apple has made its Apple TV app available on Roku living room set-top boxes, dramatically expanding the appeal of its services.

“With the Apple TV app coming to Roku, our customers will enjoy an even broader range of exciting entertainment, including the highly anticipated Apple TV+ service,” Roku VP Scott Rosenberg says. “Roku is a valuable partner for content providers looking to reach a large and engaged audience, and we’re looking forward to bringing this new option to Roku users.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This is great news for people like me who purchased content from Apple but prefer to use Roku in the living room. Roku has a few advantages over the Apple TV set-top box, key among its superior remote.

I was only able to test the app briefly today–I’ll use it more tonight—but it looks like the only thing major missing is the iTunes Extras that Apple often provides with movie purchases. Now, you no longer need to rely on Movies Anywhere to get some (but not all) of your movies outside of Apple’s hardware ecosystem. And of course other content, like TV show purchases, are now available as well.

And starting November 1, Apple’s new Apple TV+ service will likewise be available on Roku. That was obviously the real driver behind this app appearing on yet another rival platform.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 8 comments

  • yoshi

    Premium Member
    16 October, 2019 - 1:39 pm

    <p>This is great news. Now I'm just waiting for it on Fire TV as well.</p>

  • earlster

    Premium Member
    16 October, 2019 - 4:00 pm

    <p>I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't do the same for their TV/Movie store, or why they didn't make the music store/zune available on other devices. There is no surviving on Windows only.</p>

  • truerock2

    16 October, 2019 - 5:44 pm

    <p>Apple is going to have a very difficult time competing against Disney, Netflix, Comcast, AT&amp;T, Amazon, etc.</p><p><br></p><p>Apple is going to need to push iTunes/AppleTV out on USB/HDMI-sticks, internet browsers (like Netflix) which would include Android and Windows support.</p><p><br></p><p>But, obviously this gets back to the overall problem. This is all crap for customers who have to navigate an incredibly complex infrastructure for content.</p><p><br></p><p>The original version of iTunes was the perfect delivery infrastructure for entertainment content. The myriad of streaming infrastructure crap sucks big time. </p><p><br></p><p>God… I wish Steve Jobs was still alive,</p><p><br></p>

    • BrianEricFord

      16 October, 2019 - 7:29 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#481298">In reply to truerock2:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Apple TV + could be limited to ONLY people who own an Apple-branded device (iPhone/iPad/Apple TV/Mac) and pull an enviable audience for its original content offerings, so the idea that they’ll have difficulty competing is probably destined for an induction into the bad takes hall of fame.</p>

      • truerock2

        16 October, 2019 - 9:46 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#481333"><em>In reply to BrianEricFord:</em></a></blockquote><p>Well, true enough.&nbsp;I can't predict the future with a lot of accuracy – that's for sure.</p><p>I worked in the strategy and planning department for one of the largest corporations in the world for over 10 years. I specialized in computer servers and data storage technologies – not, entertainment, I was fairly accurate in predicting about 1 year out – even though I had a responsibility for 5 year and 10 year plans.</p><p><br></p><p>If I had to guess at the most likely winner in the entertainment content industry – I would pick AT&amp;T. Disney would be my second pick. At this point, I would think Apple would have to make quite a few acquisitions to be competitive. And top-tier assets like ESPN and HBO will never be available to Apple within the next 5 years – in my opinion.</p><p><br></p><p>But, perhaps this is what you are getting at… Apple has a small percentage of the smart phone market based on unit sales – but, has a huge percentage based on dollar sales. If Apple could figure out a way to be the HBO/ESPN of content delivery – perhaps Apple might be considered relatively successful.</p><p><br></p>

    • Greg Green

      17 October, 2019 - 8:34 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#481298">In reply to truerock2:</a></em></blockquote><p>Perhaps don’t put Netflix in that group. They may lose a quarter of their top programming as the originating studios start their own streaming services.</p>

  • anoldamigauser

    Premium Member
    16 October, 2019 - 8:42 pm

    <p>Is it safe?</p>

  • mattbg

    Premium Member
    18 October, 2019 - 10:16 am

    <p>This one feature just made me buy my first Roku. The prospect of being able to access my iTunes stuff without an Apple TV and in a streaming stick (vs set-top box) was immediately useful.</p><p><br></p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC