Unification is the predominant theme for cord-cutting in 2020. Rathing than bouncing between a half-dozen or extra streaming apps, we’ll see extra makes an attempt at funneling all our subscriptions into one large TV information.
The newest effort comes from Reelgood, which simply launched a nifty new distant management characteristic for Roku gadgets. When you discover one thing to observe in Reelgood’s streaming information apps for iPhone or Android, you possibly can press a button and launch the video instantly in your Roku participant or good TV.
I’ve been utilizing a pre-release model of Reelgood’s new app this week, and whereas I bumped into some points with a handful of providers, it labored flawlessly with content material from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Tubi, and Crackle. Roku itself doesn’t present something like this, so utilizing Reelgood’s distant app is likely to be even higher than navigating with an precise distant.
Battle of the guides
Reelgood just isn’t the one one providing this sort of aggregation.
One of its fundamental rivals, JustWatch, launched its personal information apps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV late final 12 months. Like Reelgood, you should use JustWatch to create a watchlist and get suggestions throughout a number of streaming providers, together with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Hulu. (Unlike Reelgood, JustWatch has no resolution for Roku gadgets.)
Jared Newman / IDGJustWatch provides native TV information apps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV.
TiVo can also be getting ready to launch its personal Android TV-based streaming dongle referred to as the TiVo Stream 4K. Its fundamental hook is a TV information that pulls in video from a number of completely different streaming sources. The firm instructed me earlier this month that it’s nonetheless on monitor to launch the machine quickly.
These choices, I hope, are a precursor to the streaming platforms themselves getting extra severe about streaming unification. Apple TV already does a effective job with this via its TV app, but it surely actually must combine Netflix into its watchlist characteristic. Amazon provides suggestions on its Fire TV dwelling display screen, but it surely leans too closely into its personal Prime content material and sponsored listings, and it lacks any sort of common watchlist. The “channel row” idea on Android TV gadgets is beneficial, but it surely too is lacking the sort of watchlists that Reelgood and JustWatch already achieve this effectively.
As for Roku, I’d like to see the corporate take a significant stab a creating its personal unified streaming information, however for now it appears extra taken with selling a narrower vary of content material via its personal Roku Channel app as a substitute. That’s a disgrace, however no less than Reelgood may also help compensate.
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