Boxee aims to beat Apple and Roku in the TV box game | Ars Technica

Boxee, the company that once made headlines as a major contender in the set-top box wars, is bringing its newly launched Boxee TV device to Walmart, starting tomorrow. This is a big move for Boxee, as it will be granted a prominent spot in Walmart’s brick and mortar stores, and will be up against competitors like the Apple TV and Roku’s line of devices.

Apple TV offers premium content like Major League Baseball and the iTunes store, and Roku offers over 500 paid and free streaming channels, but the Boxee TV has a feature found on neither: the ability to actually tune in to local television. Walmart will set up displays in its stores showcasing the Boxee TV’s access to free broadcast channels, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and the CW, as well as its capacity to stream Internet content from Netflix, YouTube, and Vimeo. The device can also hook into unencrypted basic cable, removing the need for a separate digital cable box. “We don’t believe the future of the TV is going to be a future filled with apps,” Avner Ronen, Boxee’s chief executive officer, told Bloomberg. “When you turn on the TV…you just want to watch something.”

via Boxee aims to beat Apple and Roku in the TV box game | Ars Technica.