Roku has added a ton of free channels from NBCUniversal with more to come
What do New York, LA, Miami and Chicago have in common? Starting this week, they’re among the cities whose local news channels will be added to the free Roku channel, which has over 80,000 movies and shows for you to stream on your Roku TV or other Roku device.
The Roku Channel is available to anyone who owns a Roku TV, such as the Roku Plus series or one of the top Roku streaming devices, such as the Roku Express or Roku Streaming Stick, as well as through the Roku website. And the new additions are especially good news for news fans, as it means you can get local news channels and other major content from some Fox and CBS affiliates.
Why is Roku adding these free channels?
It’s all about trying to be the best in the fast-growing FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) market, in which Roku is a major player alongside Amazon’s Freevee and Tubi. By adding local content, as well as shows from NBCUniversal, MrBeast, sports, family, and Spanish-language programming, Roku aims to make its FAST offering even more compelling.
Although the free competing channels are of course not sitting still either. Amazon announced a ton of new Freevee channels back in June and added a lot of Amazon Originals to the service the month before.
The full list of new channels is available on the Roku website hereand as you can see the news content covers quite a few cities as well as channels for Murder She Wrote, Saved By The Bell, Little House on the Prairie, crime drama, favorite sitcoms and kids shows.