It’s a busy news day for television and journalism between the Robert Durst arrest after his HBO documentary and Watchup adding Tribune’s cache of local news to its app. Not to be left out, ABC News went ahead and announced that it’s going to be available on Roku devices as of right now. ABC News VP of Digital Colby Smith says in an official memo that:
Roku users now have ABC News live video and on demand content, local news from several major markets and a wide range of historical video footage from ABC News’ archives. During breaking news and special events, Roku customers will have immediate access to multiple content streams, live 24/7.
Earlier this year, the ABC News app was available on Apple TVs both in the U.S. and internationally. Smith writes that:
The app is now available in over 100 countries across the world, and we’ve already seen incredible results with viewership on the device practically doubling overnight.
“Doubling overnight” is pretty aggressive growth, although CBS’ Les Moonves announced last week that its own streaming service, including its news app CBSN, was growing quickly. Customers want digital news channels: they’re necessary and a known quantity. Dish’s Sling TV still doesn’t offer any news (unless you count ESPN’s “Sportscenter” and I’d be obliged to agree with you). Offering the networks’ own digital channels is something any TV service of “the future” has to consider. We want our Kardashians as much as we want to know where Putin is, when the weather’s going to break, and who won the local lotto.