YouTube has finally arrived on Roku, the digital media player that allow customers to access Internet-streamed video or audio services using their televisions.
Roku's streaming set-top box has many channels such as Hulu, Vevo, Netflix and more. However, YouTube, which is one of the most common video steaming websites on the Internet, was not available until now. On Tuesday, December 17, YouTube confirmed that it now has an official Roku channel, but only on Roku 3 players.
"The YouTube channel rounds out our industry-leading selection of streaming entertainment just in time for the holidays and the annual year-end best-of video lists like YouTube's own list of top trending videos released last week. Whether it's finding a helpful tutorial, listening to the latest music, or watching your favorite videos for hours on end, YouTube has something for everyone and today we couldn't be more pleased to announce the launch of this much-anticipated channel on our platform," said Ed Lee, vice president of Roku.
Roku 3, which has a price tag of $99.99, was announced in March this year and released in April. As such, many customers may have the previous iteration of the media player, which means that they cannot get YouTube. However, the channel is expected to be available on other player models sometime in 2014.
With the new YouTube channel, Roku 3 owners in the U.S., Canada, UK and Ireland can watch all those viral videos, as well as subscribed channels, in up to 1080p HD.
Roku 3 users can also take advantage of the "Send to TV" feature with which a user can pair a smartphone or tablet running a YouTube app to the Roku player. So long the smartphone or the tablet streaming the video to the Roku media player is on the same Wi-Fi network, users can just click "Send to TV" in the YouTube app to watch videos on the television connected to Roku.
Users can download the Roku YouTube app from the Roku channel store.
