Took a few minutes to email some of the more noticably absent networks on Roku. I know my lone requests will not make a dent in their decision to prioritize making a Roku channel with full episodes, but if enough people write them they will.

My boiler plate message:

Please create a Roku App/Channel for your network. I love your programming, and am constantly on the go. With the Roku I get the full living-room experience no matter where I am. Makes me feel at home. It is just not the same with a Cell Phone or Laptop. As much as I greatly appreciate the ability to stream your content online, it would be even better to also be able to do it with my Roku. And with the Roku being the number one gift this past Christmas, there are hundreds of thousands of Roku users who feel the same. Thank you so much for you attention to this matter. Keep up the good work.

Contact Information for the Networks I most wish were on Roku, feel free to add yours to the list below. All of these offer Full Episodes online. So streaming rights are not the issue.

DIY Network: http://diynetwork.custhelp.com/app/ask/ ... ZvKkJJRm0=
TNT: http://support.tntdrama.com/ics/support ... /help.html
TBS: Info-TBS@turner.com
Syfy: apps@syfy.com, feedback@syfy.com
Cinemax: contactmax@hbo.com
Bravo: apps.bravotv@nbcuni.com

Don't hold your breath for the "Turner" channels...they are the only ones on Sling that have no VOD (though surprisingly TCM does, and this was just a recent change...TBS has almost no original content of their own as well). The SyFy app on other devices is cable authentication only, and even then the choice is very limited. I would bet ALL the above that you list would need cable authentication as well.

By the way, streaming rights on PC and OTT devices are very different.

dfgsrzwer wrote:

By the way, streaming rights on PC and OTT devices are very different.

Isn't that the lame truth. What is the difference between an OTT device and a computer? Still scratching my head on that one - seven years into streaming.

FX4 wrote:

dfgsrzwer wrote:

By the way, streaming rights on PC and OTT devices are very different.

Isn't that the lame truth. What is the difference between an OTT device and a computer? Still scratching my head on that one - seven years into streaming.

When the contracts were written, many included provisions for computers, but at the time computers weren't part of media centers like they are now. Content providers weren't even considering that people would be regularly using devices to watch the internet on their TVs, so didn't mind if someone watched something on a little 17 inch monitor or a laptop. Technology grew faster than the contracts were rewritten/renegotiated, and suddenly there was a weird division.

FX4 wrote:

dfgsrzwer wrote:

By the way, streaming rights on PC and OTT devices are very different.

Isn't that the lame truth. What is the difference between an OTT device and a computer? Still scratching my head on that one - seven years into streaming.

The difference is that OTT devices can mostly be hooked to a big screen TV easily by Joe and/or Jane Sixpack but it takes a little more intelligence than Joe & Jane have to hook up and effectively use a TV with a computer.

Also the Networks and the cable companies want the extra income they can get by not allowing OTT boxes directly forcing many people to get an overpriced cable package to watch the content they want.

They are not concerned by people using antennas as that is harder for most people now days than using OTT devices. Antennas work for many, maybe most, people but it is too hard for most people particularly when you include a DVR option.

The difference is rapidly decreasing and it will soon be easy for the Sixpack family to use their computer on their TV.

What they do not realize, yet, is that Joe can figure out how to skip commercials on things that they allow like DVRs but Joe cannot skip commercials on most OTT devices and they can negotiate more advertising money by having devices used that Joe will actually see commercials on. But that would require a bit of advanced thinking that most TV executives are incapable of.

Only way they will do it is if they are constantly reminded they need to and should do it. Saying, "don't hold your breath" is counter productive. I can provide links to plenty of those posts for HBO, Showtime, FX, USA that said exactly what you said above on every point. They all have Roku channels now.

tacticalcity wrote:

Only way they will do it is if they are constantly reminded they need to and should do it. Saying, "don't hold your breath" is counter productive. I can provide links to plenty of those posts for HBO, Showtime, FX, USA that said exactly what you said above on every point. They all have Roku channels now.

FX and USA still require cable authentication though. As I said, the existing SyFy app on other devices (and there is no reason to believe a Roku app would be different) has extremly limited content amount even with authentication.

And TBS still has almost non-existent original content...

Many of those channels have content on Hulu (or other providers). I've gone on record saying that I believe that network apps will eventually pull content from other providers and make it exclusive to their apps, forcing you to purchase that content from them. Ala carte is NOT better than buffet. I'd rather pay $12 a month to get all the content I want and lots I don't, than $20 (or even $5) and get only some of the content I want.

Elijah_Baley wrote:

FX4 wrote:

dfgsrzwer wrote:

By the way, streaming rights on PC and OTT devices are very different.

Isn't that the lame truth. What is the difference between an OTT device and a computer? Still scratching my head on that one - seven years into streaming.

The difference is that OTT devices can mostly be hooked to a big screen TV easily by Joe and/or Jane Sixpack but it takes a little more intelligence than Joe & Jane have to hook up and effectively use a TV with a computer.

Also the Networks and the cable companies want the extra income they can get by not allowing OTT boxes directly forcing many people to get an overpriced cable package to watch the content they want.

They are not concerned by people using antennas as that is harder for most people now days than using OTT devices. Antennas work for many, maybe most, people but it is too hard for most people particularly when you include a DVR option.

The difference is rapidly decreasing and it will soon be easy for the Sixpack family to use their computer on their TV.

What they do not realize, yet, is that Joe can figure out how to skip commercials on things that they allow like DVRs but Joe cannot skip commercials on most OTT devices and they can negotiate more advertising money by having devices used that Joe will actually see commercials on. But that would require a bit of advanced thinking that most TV executives are incapable of.

I tend to think the people (lawyers) that dream this stuff up don't know what makes a device a computer. Every single OTT box I have played with to date meets the classic definition of a personal computer and every personal computer made in the last ten years can be used as an OTT streamer (HTPC).

Remember how all these DVD releases over the years (and some streaming releases) are absent original music? Music industry says Video means video "Video Tape" only in their contracts with Movie/TV Studios, hence why DVDs and Streams are missing original Music. I HAVE to watch majority of Quantum Leap on Netflix and Hulu because the music change on the DVDs. Ugh.

trekkeriii wrote:

Remember how all these DVD releases over the years (and some streaming releases) are absent original music? Music industry says Video means video "Video Tape" only in their contracts with Movie/TV Studios, hence why DVDs and Streams are missing original Music. I HAVE to watch majority of Quantum Leap on Netflix and Hulu because the music change on the DVDs. Ugh.

Yeah, that was what kept "Crossing Jordan" from being released for so long (except for the first season) and I think it is still keeping most of "Spenser for hire" off the DVD market and CSI got released in Europe with a vastly different soundtrack at least for the first season at first.

Weird rights issues have even caused some rather strange graphic changes from one release of a movie to another. (See "Demolition Man's" use of "Taco Bell" or "Pizza Hut" depending on the exact release you watch.)

Copyright and contract law are two of the most complex and often befuddling parts of the law. Compared to those treaty law is often made to appear simple and straightforward and criminal law is just downright easy. This is not an excuse but it is a reason. Sometimes I think copyright law is written by poets that are masters of "obscuring meaning with language" and then interpreted by other poets that do not read or write the language that was used to write the law.

I'd like to see the CW app / channel come. CW Seed is okay but I'd like the real CW shows.