Roku
Roku CEO Anthony Wood.
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Roku, the company that makes web-connected TV boxes, announced Wednesday night that it raised a $45 million investment round led by News Corporation, BSkyB, Menlo Ventures, and Globespan Capital Partners.
Roku’s devices let you stream content from popular services such as Hulu, Netflix, HBO GO, and Pandora to your TV. The company plans to release a “Streaming Stick” in the fall that packs all of Roku’s features into a device that’s slightly larger than a USB thumb drive. (It’ll plug into a special HDMI port in some TVs.)
In the announcement, Roku says it’ll use the new cash to market its products in other countries and develop new hardware.
Roku currently offers four different boxes that start as low as $50. The top-of-the-line model costs $100.
With two big-name media companies now backing Roku, it’s very likely the company will be able to get some exclusive content not found on other streaming devices.