YouTube has been one of the most essential sources of video on the internet for years now. On the other side, the lack of Roku, a YouTube app, has been a massive hole in the content lineup of its well-rounded media streamers. However, five years after its launch, YouTube is finally coming to Roku. For now, it’s only available on the Roku 3.
This Tuesday, Roku announced on its blog that owners of the Roku 3 can now access a new, official YouTube application on the streaming set-top box. This fixes a glaring hole in the Roku 3’s feature set — despite the fact that competitors like the Apple TV and pretty much every game console on the market have long had access to YouTube, it has been sadly lacking on the Roku until now.
Undoubtedly, the YouTube application is exclusive to the Roku 3 for the moment. Support for previous versions of the Roku hardware is still in the works, but performance on those devices will be dependent on software advances due to the limited hardware functionality of older devices.
Such introduction now enables Roku to offer YouTube as an official feature to anyone that receives the streaming set-top box as a Christmas gift. Unfortunately, only customers in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland will be able to get YouTube on the Roku 3, and there’s no word on when it might expand to other countries.
Note that, adding the YouTube application to your Roku 3 will first require an update to the device’s latest software version. This update can be accessed within the Settings menu. Besides the channel menu on the Roku 3, you can also find and add the new YouTube channel here.
Source: Roku (Blog)
Thanks To: Digital Trends
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