Telstra Taps Roku for New Streaming TV Service

Over-the-top is increasingly going Down Under. Roku has notched another service provider deal, announcing Tuesday that it will power a new TV streaming service from Australia’s Telstra.

The new service, slated for a fall launch, will bundle Telstra’s own BigPond movie service with third-party over-the-top streaming services such as Presto, Stan, Netflix and “various catch up TV channels.”

Telstra is the latest provider to join Roku Powered, a licensing program announced last fall in which pay TV operators tap Roku hardware and customized interfaces to deliver apps and services to the TV. Sky UK, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia are the other announced Roku Powered partners. Roku is using the program to enter the pay TV arena and to expand beyond its bread-and-butter retail business that counts competitors such as Apple, Google and Amazon.

For the full story go to Multichannel.com.