Roku Announces a New Roku Experience

Roku today announced Roku OS 12, which will add new features like live TV, content discovery, sports, and more, plus new channel partners. The firm also revealed that it now has over 70 million active users in just the U.S.

“As the number one selling OS in three major markets, we understand what people want when it comes to a streaming platform, a simple yet delightful experience that feels personalized to them,” Roku VP Preston Smalley says. “The latest updates to our powerful OS make Roku’s software even more intuitive and curated, so users can spend less time searching for content and more time enjoying their favorite entertainment.”

Roku is the most-used smart TV OS in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the firm notes, and in addition to being available via the firm’s set-top boxes and TVs, it’s also bundled with a variety of third-party smart TVs. Roku OS 12 will arrive in the current weeks, and will add the following new features:

Local news. Roku’s Live TV experience now offers over 350 free TV streaming channels, and OS 12 will add live news channels that are personalized by location. Or, you can stream channels from major cities across the U.S.

Premium subscriptions. Premium subscriptions in the Roku Live TV Channel Guide will let users discover and subscribe to premium channels.

Sports. Roku launched a Sports experience in 2022, and this year it is adding golf and additional soccer programming, including Spanish-language game coverage for select soccer leagues. In the coming months, Roku will add a more personalized Sports experience that’s based on location, favorite team, go-to sport, and viewing habits. And CBS Sports, MLB.TV, NBA App, and NBC Sports will join the list of supported channels for the Sports experience.

Continue watching. This new What to Watch feature will help users jump back into the content they were already enjoying. It will display content from supported channels after a user has finished streaming a TV show or movie. Discovery+ and Prime Video will join the list of supported channels in Continue Watching, with BET+, Freevee, Frndly TV, and STARZ coming soon as well.

Mobile app. The Roku mobile app is being updated with a more visually immersive interface, improved account management, a streamlined Home screen, a guide button in Live TV, and enhanced photo streaming.