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Are you a Roku user looking for ways to enhance your streaming TV experience?
The Roku Channel is a free service that features live streaming channels, on-demand TV shows and movies, as well as a growing library of original content.
And now users can enjoy even more free content with the announcement of two major additions to The Roku Channel’s library.
Twenty-five new live streaming channels are coming to The Roku Channel as well as original content from the now-defunct streaming service Quibi.
Here are the details.
Beginning May 20, 2021, The Roku Channel users will have access to Quibi content that will be rebranded as “Roku Originals.”
That means you’re going to get original content from stars including Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Chance the Rapper and Chrissy Teigen. All you have to do is access The Roku Channel via your Roku device or on the internet.
This is a move that has been anticipated for a while: Roku acquired Quibi’s content library for $100 million in January 2021.
The new Roku Originals section of The Roku Channel will launch with 30 titles, according to a company blog post.
The shows include reboots of the MTV classic Punk’d (hosted by Chance the Rapper) and the Comedy Central hit Reno 911!
Hemsworth stars in a thriller titled “Most Dangerous Game,” and Hart’s new show is dubbed “Die Hart.”
Below is a sneak peek of some of the new content.
Remember Quibi? The well-funded and heavily-promoted mobile streaming service had a short and unspectacular life of just six months before shuttering in 2020 due to a lack of subscribers.
And that makes sense, I guess.
Quibi, short for “Quick Bites,” was trying to be the first mobile-only streaming concept that produced original content. It was geared toward viewing on your phone. None of Quibi’s episodes lasted more than 10 minutes.
That meant short, easily-digestible news and entertainment content created in a way that you watch comfortably from either portrait or landscape mode on your phone — perhaps during your morning commute or in the waiting room at your dentist’s office.
That type of entertainment was in very low demand when this service launched in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
When the service went live in April 2020, I downloaded the app, watched several hours of content and produced a Team Clark review of the service.
While the Roku Originals announcement should have free streamers excited, the good news doesn’t stop there.
The Roku Channel also announced major additions to its live streaming TV menu. There are 25 new channels from which to choose.
Television stars Johnny Carson and Jack Hanna now have their own channels on the service, and crime TV fans will be excited to see that there are two new channels dedicated to the genre.
Here’s the complete list of additions, as well as a brief description (as provided by Roku) of the content each channel will stream.
If these announcements are your first real exposure to The Roku Channel, you may be surprised to find out that it already has a good library of free streaming content.
Full seasons of these popular shows are available to stream on-demand:
And there also are some movies with well-known stars such as Matthew McConaughey and Will Smith. The movie titles available on the service shift often, so if you see a movie you like you may want to watch it in short order.
In total, the service boasts more than 25,000 hours of free content. You can read Team Clark’s review of the service to get a better idea of the ins and outs of it.
Roku, which has been in the news recently for its spat with Google over keeping YouTube TV on the platform, has really upped its game in the free streaming content area.
The quality of the content from Quibi was never in question. It was the business model that had people scratching their heads. So adding that original content library to The Roku Channel was a huge win for Roku.
It already was considered one of the best free streaming services on the market, and the addition of arguably some of the best free original content available only strengthens that position.
With more people than ever cutting the cord to save on monthly entertainment expenses, The Roku Channel is positioning itself alongside Pluto TV and Tubi as “must-add” options for the budget-conscious streamer.
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This post was last modified on May 20, 2021 11:13 am
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