Tubi TV enlarges US VOD offerings

A new US video-on-demand service, Tubi TV, has launched on platforms including the Amazon Fire TV and Roku.

Microsoft’s game platform Xbox 360 will also carry the service, which comes from adRise, a connected TV content distribution firm based in San Francisco that works with companies such as Discovery Communications and ITV.

Tubi boasts it has the “largest breadth of free content” of all US VOD platforms, and adRise says it will soon launch on Android devices, Chromecast, iPhones and iPads, Kindle Fire, Samsung and Sony connected televisions, TiVo, and WD TV.

The content library includes British shows such as Father Ted and Black Books, and Scandinavian drama The Sandhamn Murders. It also offers nime, Asian TV and movie favorites, award-winning international films, cartoons and kids programming, classics, comedy, cooking, documentaries, drama, film festival hits, fitness, men’s and women’s lifestyle, music, nature, news, reality TV, and sci-fi programming.

adRise says it has been quietly securing rights for the past three-and-a-half years, and is now set to compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video.

“In the face of unprecedented technological change and competition, the television industry is undergoing a radical revolution as consumer sophistication and expectations continue to rise,” said Farhad Massoudi, CEO and founder of adRise.

“They want more choices, on-demand access, and they increasingly want it for free. We’ve been busy working under the radar to deliver on this vision by aggregating the largest library of free television and film content in the world and we’ve only just begun.”

Tubi TV’s lead investor is Silicon Valley VC firm Foundation Capital, while former Lionsgate chairman Mark Amin and ex-Yahoo chief technology officer  Zod Nazen are also financial backers.