# SnagFilms Brings Free, Ad-Supported Movies to Roku



## rmedeiros (Mar 23, 2011)

The company has also been busy adding new content to its library. Snagfilms now has more than 2,100 assets in its library, and expects to increase that to more than 3,000 by the end of the year, CEO Rick Allen told us in a phone interview. Itâ€™s also expanding the types of content that are available. While it has primarily been an active distributor of free, ad-supported documentary films, it has quickly added a number of fictional indie films for rental as part of its video-on-demand service. Those fiction titles will become available over the coming months.

â€œOur objective is to be as ubiquitous as Netflix and to be able to have an extremely strong library of offerings,â€ Allen told us. To that end, SnagFilms recently raised $10 million funding to ramp up its distribution and content acquisition efforts. That money came from Comcastâ€™s venture arm as well as New Enterprise Associates.

This wasnâ€™t the first SnagFilms channel built for Roku. Earlier this year, a community member created an unofficial â€œprivateâ€ channel users could install by entering a certain code in their Roku account page. But that app was taken down recently and replaced with the official SnagFilms channel, which is available in the Channel Store. This is a growing problem for Roku, which has also recently removed community-created YouTube and CBS private channels at their request. With the official app, SnagFilms says it can provide a superior experience to the community-created channel. In an email, Allen writes:

â€œSnagFilms is pleased to offer an official channel on Roku, optimized for the Roku platform to ensure the best quality picture and sound, and prominently featured in the Roku channel store so Roku viewers can find it easily. We encourage community sharing and discussion of SnagFilm films via our website and Facebook page.â€

From: http://gigaom.com/video/snagfilms-roku/


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