SEATTLE—Local news streaming service NewsON said it has launched an upgraded app for Roku, offering new features and a refreshed user interface that gives viewers access to live and on-demand news coverage across the United States.
The redesigned app offers users ad-supported access to a range of local news content, including live newscasts and on-demand clips from over 285 TV stations in more than 135 markets, covering over 90% of the country. Many local stations have FAST channels, which are available for streaming on NewsON, which is wholly owned by Sinclair, it said.
New NewsON features include:
- Weather radar, forecasts, current conditions and video: Users can access a zoomable national radar map with additional layers, including winds, precipitation, icy conditions and more. Local current conditions and seven-day forecasts are available for each NewsON market on the app, along with a curated collection of weather videos and up-to-date coverage from around the country.
- Trending stations map: Enables easy navigation of breaking news stories from across the U.S., ensuring instant access to the most relevant and up-to-date coverage both locally and out of market.
- What’sON—new original series: What’sON is a daily segment featuring unique and trending news stories beyond the headlines, presented in an interactive format. Each day brings new content like “True Crime Tuesday” and “Strange but True Thursday.” Viewers can interact with the host and fellow users through comments on their mobile device, sharing their voice and connecting with the community.
- Unique mobile features: iOS and Android apps now offer a focus on mobile-centric short-form content, polls, user commenting and push alerts.
“The release of our updated app on Roku is a significant milestone for NewsON. We are very focused on building on our core service of nationwide local TV news access with unique features like VOD newscasts, while enhancing multiplatform engagement and interactivity with a host of new content and features including interactive weather radar, user commenting and polls,” Ron Stitt, vice president and general manager of NewsON, said.
NewsON is free to download with no login required on Roku devices, Amazon Fire TV devices, Samsung, Android TV, Vizio, web, iOS and Android. An additional app for LG is in development.
More information is available on the Roku Channel Store.
More information is available on the Sinclair website.
