internet-enabled set-top box Roku has partnered with Ultimate Fighting Championship to bring all major UFC live pay-per-view events — plus access to classic fights, insider information and countdowns — directly to Roku boxes. The new UFC Channel will be available to users via the Roku Channel Store later this afternoon.
The new UFC Channel offers both live HD streaming of pay-per-view events, plus access to past UFC content via UFC Vault. Some of this content is free and more is available either à la carte or as part of a subscription.
Hands-On Verdict: Very Cool
We had a chance to beta test the new UFC Channel two weeks ago during UFC 113. Watching live streaming HD on an Internet-connected set-top box — as opposed to a traditional cable box — was pretty surreal and the quality was great (though I’m not much of a UFC fan).
Some of the playback controls are disabled during live events, but as soon as the event is over it’s archived in the UFC Vault, where you can access the full event for seven days after your pay-per-view purchase. UFC Vault subscribers have access to all past fights.
The purchase process was relatively painless; just sign up for a UFC account online, login to that account on the Roku box and select the event you want to purchase. When the fight goes live, you’ll be in on all the action and you can see host Joe Rogan talking about MMA and why certain fighters are such badasses, all in HD.
You do need to have at least a 2 Mbps Internet connection if you want to have a seamless live HD experience, so keep that in mind that if you live in an area with less-than-optimal broadband. My home connection is pretty snappy and it was just as good — if not better — than watching anything live on Comcast (my cable and Internet provider).
The Future of Television?
Roku is quickly starting to differentiate itself in the burgeoning Internet-powered set-top box market as a box for sports fans. In addition to UFC, Roku also has channels for MLB.TV and NBA Game Time. Of course, Roku is still best known for being the original Netflix device and the company is planning on rolling out an updated version of the Netflix Channel next month.
Internet-connected television devices continue to be big in 2010. In addition to set-top boxes like Roku, Boxee, Popbox and the upcoming Smart TV project from Google, Sony and Intel, more and more television sets and other consumer electronics devices like Blu-ray players and video game consoles are acting as a gateway for accessing Internet content on a television set.
Although the majority of the content that these devices are serving are sourced from online services like Netflix or YouTube, more traditional commercial content, like UFC and MLB.TV, is starting to appear as well. What this ultimately means for cable television is unclear; I personally think that cable companies will simply start to adapt and embrace IPTV services within their own products. Still, it is a big step toward actualizing the “connected living room.”
What do you think of IPTV? Are you excited that you can watch live events via devices like Roku? Let us know.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment