Roku powers Kwesé Play streaming platform in Africa

Streaming platform provider Roku, Inc. and African media company Econet Media, today announced that both companies have entered a Roku Powered license agreement for the launch of streaming TV service Kwesé Play. Econet Media is a subsidiary of Econet Global which owns the largest fibre backbone in Sub-Saharan Africa and operations in 12+ countries. The Kwesé Play service and streaming player are now available in South Africa and leverage the Roku® streaming platform to deliver live TV services to consumers.

“By working with Econet we expand our footprint into Africa and get the Roku streaming experience into the hands of African consumers. As part of our Roku Powered™ license agreement, Econet will leverage our proven streaming platform to launch an innovative TV service to its customers,” said Andrew Ferrone, vice president pay TV at Roku.

“Roku’s track-record made them the obvious choice for us. The ability to deliver the Kwesé Play service to televisions is an important facet of our multiplatform content delivery service. As a result of this partnership, we are able to offer our customers cutting-edge TV services at a low cost with easy to use Roku players,” said Joseph Hundah, Chief Executive Officer of Econet Media.

Through the Roku Powered program, operators can license the Roku streaming platform to deliver live TV and on-demand services to their customers. Anton Lokotsch, Head of Technical for Kwesé Play said, “Roku provides operators with an end-to-end solution including powerful low-cost hardware, regular updates to the Roku OS and a wide selection of streaming channels.”

Operators who would like to learn more about the Roku Powered program can visit Roku from 15-19 September at the IBC trade show in Amsterdam. Roku’s booth is in Hall 14, Booth G10.