Netflix announces first ‘Recommended TVs’

TVs by LG, Sony and Roku will be the first to carry the ‘Netflix Recommended TV’ logo in North America, the subscription video-on-demand giant has revealed. 

Netflix first announced its US-based Netflix Recommended TV program at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, with the scheme designed to highlight sets that offer a “superior internet TV experience.”

The first set of TV to gain Netflix’s stamp of approval are LG 4K Ultra HD TVs with webOS 2.0, Sony Android HDTVs and Roku TVs manufactured by Hisense, Insignia, and TCL – with more models and manufacturers to be added in the coming months.

“We’re particularly excited about the ‘Instant On’ functionality supported by Roku TVs and the Sony Android Full HDTVs. These TVs wake up quickly, remembering where you left off, similar to how smartphones and tablets behave today,” said Netflix director of product development, Brady Gunderson, and director of business development, David Holland, in a company blog post.

“These Sony and Roku TVs are also capable of turning on and launching Netflix with the press of a single button, making getting to Netflix faster than ever before. The LG 4K UHD TVs with webOS 2.0 have made special optimisations to make streaming services like Netflix launch much faster, and all of these devices offer improved user interfaces, allowing you to move seamlessly between live TV and internet TV services.”

The news comes a week after Netflix announced that Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Toshiba and Vestel will begin marketing devices with dedicated Netflix buttons on their remote controls in Europe from this month.