Channels & viewing

[CWinFlorida]

I don't have Cable. I have Roku. I ❤️ Roku. Roku is MY(ul) TV Provider. So many Networks require you to sign in with your TV Provider to watch the new "locked" Episodes of TV Shows. But, if you have Roku which IS my TV Provider and IS the TV Provider for sooo many people, you cannot sign in to Roku as your TV Provider because Roku is NOT on the List of TV Providers. Can Roku PLEASE fix this? Please, please, please?

Thank you for listening.

Cheers,

Celeste 

[RokuJharra-Q]

Hi @CWinFlorida!

Welcome here to the Roku Community!

Thank you for reaching out to us with your inquiries about accessing your channel.

Please be advised that Roku devices provide a streaming platform, and several Roku channels, including The Roku Channel, offer free content. However, some channels may have a mix of free and premium content and might require a subscription or TV provider depending on the needs of the channel partner you're interested in.

I hope this clears things up.

Thanks,
Jharra

[makaiguy · Accepted solution]

"TV Provider" in this context means the account through which you PAY for a particular channel.   When you subscribe to cable or satellite part of your monthly payment goes to each of the channels in your account.  A main reason cable and satellite pricing has gone up so much in recent years is that these channels keep raising THEIR prices.  Many of these channels also make their content available by streaming over the internet at no extra charge, if you can prove you are already paying for them through a subscription to a "TV Provider" account that carries them.

When you drop your cable/satellite account, you are no longer paying for those channels, so the channels will not allow you to stream their content for free.

Roku charges nothing for its basic service, so it cannot be used as the "TV Provider" for those cable-type channels.

There are some paid services you can subscribe to on Roku that that may carry the channels you are interested in at a lower cost than a cable/satellite subscription. Ones that come to mind to check out for any particular channel would include:

    • Hulu plus Live TV
    • Sling
    • philo
    • Directv Stream
    • YouTube TV
    • frndly
    • fubu
    • vidgo
    ... there may be others.

There are several places on the net where you can look up which streaming providers carry a particular channel of interest. Here are several such pages:

    • https://thestreamable.com/channels
    • https://www.groundedreason.com/cord-cutting/tv-streaming/how-to-stream-by-channel/
    • https://suppose.tv/ (thanks to @DBDukes for this one)
    • https://justwatch.tv/
    .. and again, there may be others

Savings in cord cutting usually come from picking and choosing which of the offerings you wish to pay for instead of paying for full blown cable or satellite services with scores of channels you never watch.