Source: Boing Boing
Roku is betting that passive, always-on AI video content can compete with traditional streaming for living room attention—treating the television as ambient background rather than active entertainment. This challenges how platforms have monetized video consumption: if viewers accept endlessly generated content as filler, it erodes the scarcity model that powers premium streaming and cable. The bet assumes audiences will tolerate unwatched programming enough to keep the app open. The move tests whether AI production costs are low enough to sustain a business from content that skips acquisition talent, writers, and editorial judgment.