Roku makes some of our favorite streaming devices, and one of the reasons is the sheer amount of streaming services — Roku calls them “channels” — available on those devices. This includes a fair number of services like Sony Crackle, Pluto TV, and Tubi that let you watch movies and TV shows absolutely free of charge. The only problem is that it can often be difficult finding what you want to watch without browsing through all of the various services. Fortunately, that is changing.
On Wednesday, August 8, Roku announced a new addition to the home screen on Roku streaming devices and Roku TVs: The “Featured Free” section. As the name implies, this provides users with direct links to free movies and TV shows found on the channels mentioned above, but also plenty more including ABC, The CW, CW Seed, Fox, Freeform, and Roku’s own The Roku Channel. This section will include the latest in-season episodes of popular series, as well as full-season catch-ups of previous seasons.
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Speaking of The Roku Channel, you’ll soon be able to watch this regardless of whether or not you even own any Roku hardware as starting today, the company is launching The Roku Channel for the Web. All you need to do is sign up for a free Roku account and you’ll be able to watch on devices including PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, smartphones, or tablets. The Roku Channel app has begun to roll out on select Samsung smart TVs starting today, and the company says it will continue to look for ways to bring the service to more hardware.
“Roku is the leading platform for free entertainment and our users love it. We’re delighted to deliver even more value to our customers without subscriptions, complicated logins or fees,” Roku Vice President of Programming and Engagement Rob Holmes said in a statement. “By expanding The Roku Channel to the Web, we’re broadening the access points to high-quality, free streaming entertainment. With Featured Free, we’re making it easy for our customers to see the great, free content already available on the Roku platform in one place, while creating value for our content providers by connecting them with Roku’s growing audience.”
The Featured Free section will begin rolling out in the U.S. today, though this is a phased rollout, so you may not see it right away. Roku says the rollout will happen over “the coming weeks,” so you shouldn’t have too long to wait.
Roku will start making its own Roku TVs and OLED reference design
Your next Roku TV may well say Roku on the front. After years of leading the smart TV industry by licensing its operating system to other manufacturers, Roku announced its own Roku Select and Roku Plus Series televisions — the first to bear the Roku name from front to back -- today at CES 2023.
While the names are slightly confusing, the gist is this: There are 11 models spanning from 24 to 75 inches. The Select lineup will top out at 1080p resolution and include a basic Roku Voice Remote, while the Plus Series will sport 4K resolution panels and include the Roku Voice Remote Pro, which is rechargeable. Prices start at $119 on the low end and and top out at $999.
MediaTek’s new Pentonic 1000 processor may make your next TV even better
MediaTek today at its annual MediaTek Summit unveiled its newest flagship system on a chip for televisions — with the Pentonic 1000 looking to future-proof your next television.
The multi-core, multi-CPU chipset will enable all kinds of specs and features that you've likely heard of before, but they'll be all tucked inside more TV sets than ever, with more video and audio codecs and broadcast TV standards, all in a single platform. (And, hopefully, enabling lower prices.)
One of the biggest pain points when it comes to watching live sports these days is just figuring out where to watch things. And it doesn't matter if you've got cable or satellite, or if you're streaming everything. Some events are on linear networks like ESPN, or the broadcast affiliates. Others are spread across the multiple streaming services, like ESPN+ (tons of sports), Paramount+ (soccer, mostly), Peacock (the British Premier League), and more. Thursday night NFL games are on Amazon Prime Video. Even Apple is getting into the game, with the MLS switching to Apple TV+ in 2023.
Roku users are about to get a little help from their platform of choice, with a new top-level menu item that shares a name with the brilliant 1983 Huey Lewis and the News album.
