New York Times: TWiT is coming to the Roku (thus coming to TV)

From a Bits Blog posting on the New York Times website:

According to a Roku executive who spoke at a conference earlier this week, the company is about to add Roku Channels to its box, bringing in content from Web sites like Blip.TV, Revision 3, TwiT TV and others to its heretofore movie-focused offering. Roku says it will gradually expand the number of channels.

Comments

[Jim H]

Great news! Can you also distribute to Plex and other software platforms, for the Mac mini fans like me?

Leo, I think I'm seeing the other side of the advertising formula you work by these days. It's the Sync stuff. A. Your audible stuff, GoToMyPC, etc., work. They're T.E.C.H. We know you use them, and it's much more informative when you and your "cast" tell their stories. It's engaging. There gets to be sort of a LOT of ads, but they're tolerable because it's Andy's breathless audiobook pick, and so on. But when the listener doesn't like the product -- buying a FORD is not Tech, now, is it, unless you're idiotic enough to buy a huge carbon pig like the Mustang as a teenage crush you went on, ignoring the impact on the planet, giving a bad example to the kids -- well, okay, the thing is, when you do personalized ads, if you don't like the product, like I don't like the Sync/Mustang, then the negativity sticks to YOU, not just to the product. You and Steve going on about SpinRite? Terrific, a new genre of ads. You and Sync? Well, I guess they're paying a lot, right? What do we do to buy it? Buy a car? Uh-uh.

I'm old enough to remember the early days of TV, when a large number of shows made the same connection. It wasn't the "Name of Celebrity" show, it was the <Name of Celebrity> <Name of Gasoline> Show. And the celebrity, between skits, would come out with a can of Beefaroni and tell you how much he loved it. And the negative stories built up: the advertisers interfering in the show. The advertisers censoring, and so on. So the stars, the major guys, demanded that the companies prepare their own damn ads, and not require the star to eat a spoonful of Campbell's Soup while he brushed his teeth with Pepsodent. And it was better that way, for the reason that I'm trying to point at in this long message. I don't begrudge you your silly Mustang -- well, I do -- but if you weren't advertising it personally, it wouldn't be changing my attitude to your show. I could just act like I normally do with ads. Ignore them and wait for the good stuff.

[Arthur J]

Disagree, Jim. Leo has been doing ads forever on his radio shows, and he MUST have big advertisers to make the podcast model work. He gets a Mustang? Good for him! American car, great electronics -- what's the matter with that? We're not allowed to own cars? My guess is that Leo drives about 5,000 miles a YEAR, because I too run a home business and you're glued to your office. I was delighted to see Ford sponsoring Leo. Great for Leo, great for Ford -- shows they are thinking outside the box.

[slugfestburbguy]

By the time American car manufacturers get a great 400 + mile between recharging electric car model to sell I'm sure Leo will be out there with the rest of us trying to obtain such a vehicle. Right now, this kind of thing is not affordable or available for most of us. This whole mpg discussion, save the earth stuff regarding petro mechanics should be left to actual motor heads who obsess over this kind of stuff like geeks obsess over tech talk.