Roku could be preparing to launch its own smart TVs in a bid to take on streaming rivals Amazon and Sky (via hdtvtest).
A report by Business Insider claims that the California-based company has been considering building Roku-branded TVs for over a year. The company is even said to have used focus groups to gauge possible customer reactions.
"[Roku] showed different models, feature sets and names, sizes, price points," a source told Business Insider. "This is a manufacturing operation. They want to go into making their own TVs."
Roku makes some of the best standalone media streamers on the market, in addition to licensing its operating system to smart TV makers such as TCL and Hisense.
However, with consumers increasingly turning to internet-based content and smart TVs now the front line in the battle for eyes and wallets, it seems that Roku is keen to keep pace with its rivals.
Britain's Sky unveiled its own Sky Glass smart TV in October, while Amazon US released the first "Amazon-built" smart TVs shortly after. The range-topping Amazon Fire TV Omni Series starts at $409.99 (around £300 / AU$550) and is available in 43-, 50-, 55-, 65-, and 75-inch screen sizes.
There's no word on what a possible 'Roku-built' smart TV would look like, or whether Roku will opt for an LED, OLED or QLED panel. But as the current crop of Roku TVs combine low cost 4K HDR displays with Roku's app-packed OS, an affordable option seems more likely than not.
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