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Roku may go public this year

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  Roku may go public this year RS Wood  <rswood@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-24 18:14 +0000
    Re: Roku may go public this year RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-25 15:46 +0000
      Re: Roku may go public this year Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-02-25 11:35 -0700
        Re: Roku may go public this year RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-02-25 20:15 +0000
          Re: Roku may go public this year Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-02-25 22:51 -0700

#858 — Roku may go public this year

From the "as long as it keeps streaming my stuff" department:
Title: Report: Roku may go public this year
Author: Janko Roettgers
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 18:19:40 -0500
Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/5N-Ku4vPXGo/
Podcast Download URL: http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/08bc62ecf138202f06b74dfa01376e74?s=96&d=retro&r=PG

Streaming device maker Roku is considering an IPO this year, according to a
Bloomberg report[1]. The company apparently hasn’t selected a lead banker for
the offering yet, and Bloomberg quoted unidentified sources with knowledge of
the matter saying that the company hasn’t made a final decision on a public
offering yet.

Roku is best known for its streaming boxes, which the company sells for as
little as $50, and which directly compete with Apple’s Apple TV as well as
with Google’s Chromecast. The company recently expanded its offering by
striking partnerships with Hisense and TCL[2]. Both companies are set to
introduce TV sets with Roku’s smart TV platform in the coming months.

Roku said in early January that it was “just shy of 8 million Roku players
sold in America.” The company also sells hardware in Canada and the U.K.,
where it struck a partnership with pay TV provider Sky to distribute
Sky-branded Roku hardware[3]. Sky’s owner News Corp. is amongst Roku’s
investors; the company has raised a total of $127 million in funding from
News Corp., Menlo Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners, Netflix and others.

A number of companies, including Amazon and Intel, looked to acquire Roku in
the past[4]. Both of these companies went on to build their own TV hardware,
and Amazon is looking to launch its Roku competitor next month, according to
a Recode report[5]. In the long run, it could prove to be challenging for
Roku to compete with giants like Amazon, Apple and Google, all of which have
other ways to monetize their TV devices.

Roku has been trying to build out its services business and is now offering
content publishers a way to bill viewers for their apps. Roku CEO Anthony
Wood told me at the end of last year that services are the fastest growing
part of Roku’s business, but I’ve heard considerable skepticism from
publishers, many of who would rather own the billing relationship with their
customers and offer them access across multiple platforms.
[image 6]

[image 8][7]

Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial[9].

* What the shift to the cloud means for the future EPG[10]
* Connected consumer third-quarter 2012[11]
* A look back at this year’s CES and what it means for tech in 2014[12]

[image 14][13][image 15]

Links:
[1]: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-21/roku-said-to-be-weighing-initial-public-offering-in-u-s-in-2014.html (link)
[2]: http://gigaom.com/2014/01/05/roku-tv-tcl-haier/ (link)
[3]: http://gigaom.com/2013/07/26/uks-sky-launches-roku-like-box-for-just-9-99/ (link)
[4]: http://gigaom.com/2012/01/03/roku-acquisition-rumors/ (link)
[5]: http://recode.net/2014/02/21/amazon-gets-its-tv-box-ready-again/ (link)
[6]: http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=gigaom.com&blog=14960843&post=819335&subd=gigaom2&ref=&feed=1 (image)
[7]: http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=/1008864/Gigaom_RSS_300x250&sz=300x250&c=75335 (link)
[8]: http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?iu=/1008864/Gigaom_RSS_300x250&sz=300x250&c=75335 (image)
[9]: http://research.gigaom.com/?utm_source=videoutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=819335+report-roku-may-go-public-this-year&utm_content=jroettgers (link)
[10]: http://pro.gigaom.com/2012/10/what-the-shift-to-the-cloud-means-for-the-future-epg/?utm_source=videoutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=819335+report-roku-may-go-public-this-year&utm_content=jroettgers (link)
[11]: http://pro.gigaom.com/2012/10/connected-consumer-third-quarter-2012-analysis-and-outlook/?utm_source=videoutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=819335+report-roku-may-go-public-this-year&utm_content=jroettgers (link)
[12]: http://research.gigaom.com/report/a-look-back-at-this-years-ces-and-what-it-means-for-tech-in-2014/?utm_source=videoutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=819335+report-roku-may-go-public-this-year&utm_content=jroettgers (link)
[13]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OmMalik?a=5N-Ku4vPXGo:9VYfAFM1Hbs:yIl2AUoC8zA (link)
[14]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OmMalik?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (image)
[15]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OmMalik/~4/5N-Ku4vPXGo (image)

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#919

RS Wood wrote:
>  From the "as long as it keeps streaming my stuff" department:
> Title: Report: Roku may go public this year

> Roku has been trying to build out its services business and is now offering
> content publishers a way to bill viewers for their apps. Roku CEO Anthony
> Wood told me at the end of last year that services are the fastest growing
> part of Roku’s business, but I’ve heard considerable skepticism from
> publishers, many of who would rather own the billing relationship with their
> customers and offer them access across multiple platforms.

I posted this because as usual, things I'm interested in that go public 
tend to turn to shit.  I just bought a Roku and can't wait to get it so 
I can set it up.  I chose it for home entertainment not for its channels 
but because it runs the Plex app, and my FreeNAS came with 
PlexMediaServer and it works perfectly.  I'm overwhelmed by how good it 
is.  So now I just fill up the NAS with movies, and PlexMS serves it 
anywhere in the house to the wife's ipad or my Nexus 7, and in a day or 
two, to my big-ass TV downstairs with a Roku plugged in.

So a year from now if Roku is public, they'll have to provide "value" 
for its shareholders by charging premium subscriptions or some other 
crap.  ("Premium" is my least favorite word in the English language). 
And I don't know how they'll ruin it, but they'll ruin it.

At that point my plan B will be one of those Android sticks, an HDMI 
connection, and the Plex app on the Android stick.  Just as good or 
better, maybe.

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#924

RS Wood wrote:

> I posted this because as usual, things I'm interested in that go public
> tend to turn to shit.  I just bought a Roku and can't wait to get it so
> I can set it up.  I chose it for home entertainment not for its channels
> but because it runs the Plex app, and my FreeNAS came with
> PlexMediaServer and it works perfectly.  I'm overwhelmed by how good it
> is.  So now I just fill up the NAS with movies, and PlexMS serves it
> anywhere in the house to the wife's ipad or my Nexus 7, and in a day or
> two, to my big-ass TV downstairs with a Roku plugged in.
> 
> So a year from now if Roku is public, they'll have to provide "value"
> for its shareholders by charging premium subscriptions or some other
> crap.  ("Premium" is my least favorite word in the English language).
> And I don't know how they'll ruin it, but they'll ruin it.
> 
> At that point my plan B will be one of those Android sticks, an HDMI
> connection, and the Plex app on the Android stick.  Just as good or
> better, maybe.
> 

With the current Roku, are you able to grab over-the-air programming and 
wind up recording with zero payments?  The adds and the box don't make it 
clear whether I can just plug in the box and manually set up to record the 
antenna input without ANY additional services.

I'm so far in the sticks that the antenna is my only access w/o some 
expensive (and little used) satellite setup but it would be nice to time-
shift what I would watch while I'm out fishing ;-).

-- 
Will Honea

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#929

On 2014-02-25, Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> wrote:
> RS Wood wrote:
>
> With the current Roku, are you able to grab over-the-air programming and 
> wind up recording with zero payments?  The adds and the box don't make it 
> clear whether I can just plug in the box and manually set up to record the 
> antenna input without ANY additional services.
>
> I'm so far in the sticks that the antenna is my only access w/o some 
> expensive (and little used) satellite setup but it would be nice to time-
> shift what I would watch while I'm out fishing ;-).
>

I don't know, I haven't received it yet.  I also live in Senegal - see
www.therandymon.com - so I'm not exactly in an area with lots of
over-the-air programming.  They have "channels" like others, but by the
time you get done paying for a Hulu+, Netflix, and whatever
subscription, you're probably paying the same money you paid for cable.
I'm not buying it for that feature - I'm buying it so I can stream stuff
from my FreeNAS, which is like heaven.

I'd add: it's not clear to me that the Roku can record anything at all.
It just streams stuff to an HDMI video connection, that's it.

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#950

RS Wood wrote:

> I'd add: it's not clear to me that the Roku can record anything at all.
> It just streams stuff to an HDMI video connection, that's it.
> 

Ah, and I thought I was way out in the woods!  Logically, Roku must have 
some sort of storage - the units I see here advertise access to 4 channels 
at once and I couldn't have managed THAT even had they existed in my youth 
of those long ago days. I think I need to make another pass to rummage 
through their web site.

-- 
Will Honea

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