COLLEGE STATION — The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is extending its reach to consumers with Roku connections to view a variety of educational videos.
“In the past, creating your own TV channel or buying network airtime was very expensive and time-consuming,” said Treye Rice, AgriLife Extension project coordinator in College Station. “It was also tightly controlled by a few market leaders. Now anyone can create their own TV channel using Internet TV.”
Rice said since December 2012, AgriLife Extension has been uploading educational videos to the AgSmart.tv channel which is streamed to people with Roku devices.
He said the same videos are also available on other parts of the AgSmart.tv network such as Youtube and the AgSmart.tv website.
“The Roku channel is the new part for this type of content delivery,” Rice said. “This enables viewers to watch on big screen TVs in the comfort of their living room, instead of having to squint at YouTube videos on their laptops, phones or tablets.”
The addition of AgriLife Extension videos to the AgSmart.tv channel helps meet a niche market in which viewers are increasingly seeking content specific to their interests. Having television available over the Internet helps viewers find videos in a format with which they are familiar. Currently more than 30,000 people subscribe to AgSmart.tv, Rice said.
The initial AgSmart.tv channel categories for AgriLife Extension include: AgriLife Today, animal science, Dinner Tonight!, Texas 4-H, and wildlife and fisheries.
Rice said more than 80 videos are already available in those categories, and a horticulture channel will be added soon.
More information is available at http://internettv.tamu.edu/ . At the website, click on the subscribe button to be notified by email of additions and updates. -30-