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    $49.99 Roku LT announced, HBO Go coming to all Roku devices

    $49.99 Roku LT announced, HBO Go coming to all Roku devices

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    Roku LT
    Roku LT

    Roku's always been extremely aggressive about hitting lower price points, and the new $49.99 Roku LT is its cheapest media streamer yet — it's almost in impulse-purchase territory. It's pretty stripped down, of course — it's 720p only, there's no Bluetooth or SD card slot, and it lacks the gaming apps on the Roku 2 family — but for just watching Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, or any of Roku's other 300 channels it should do quite nicely. And hey, if you really want Angry Birds 2 on your TV the Roku 2 HD is still around at $59.99.

    Speaking of channels, Roku's also announcing that all of its boxes will be able to stream HBO Go by the end of October. It's an interesting announcement, since HBO Go requires that you subscribe to cable or satellite service and pay for traditional HBO, but the move isn't really aimed at cord-cutters — it's more of a way to get on-demand content on additional TVs without paying for another cable box. (And we'll bet more than a few TiVo owners locked out of traditional cable on-demand service will be all over this.) We'd expect to see quite a few more announcements in this vein as Roku cozies up to the content industry as the cheaper and more flexible alternative to the Apple TV — the little box that could is getting a lot more interesting.