Apple TV App Lands on Roku TVs
Apple TV App Lands on Roku TVs
By Mike Wheatley - 17 October 2019

Roku TV and device owners can now access the Apple TV app, allowing them to access the full library of 4K content on iTunes and numerous partner channels. It will also allow Roku TV owners to watch to Apple’s upcoming Apple TV+ streaming service when it launches next month.

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Apple and Roku have come together despite offering competing TV platforms simply because it makes sense for both to do so. After all, Roku likes to portray itself as a content agnostic platform and so the move fits with that strategy, while Apple needs more partners to help get Apple TV+ off the ground. 

With this week’s launch, owners of Roku devices such as the Roku Express and Roku Ultra, and the most recent Roku TVs, will be able to download the Apple TV app. 

"Today, we’re excited to announce the Apple TV app is available as a channel today on the Roku platform!,” Roku officials said in a statement. “The new channel brings together a number of different ways to discover and watch movies, TV shows, and more, and for the first time ever, gives you access to your iTunes video library on the Roku platform.”

For now, users will have to be content with whatever content they’re willing to buy from the iTunes store, and subscriptions to partner channels such as HBO and Starz. But the availability of Apple TV+ content from next month onwards is the biggest draw for Roku users. 

Apple TV+ is the company’s new video streaming service that’s meant to rival Netflix and Amazon Prime TV. The service will launch in over 100 countries on November 1st with exclusive “Apple original” shows including Dickinson, For All Mankind, See, Ghostwriter and The Elephant Queen. 

Roku TV users can download the Apple TV app via the Featured section of the channel store, or by searching for it using the Roku voice remote or Roku app on their mobile device. 

The Apple TV app is already accessible via Apple’s TV boxes and by Samsung’s 208 and 2019 Smart TVs. It will launch on select TVs from LG, Sony and Vizio later in the year too.