Roku Is Launching an Amazon Channels Competitor


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Today Roku officially announced their Amazon Channels competitor. Now Roku owners will be able to easily manage their subscriptions to services like SHOWTIME®, Starz, and EPIX through the Roku Channel on their Roku players and Roku TVs.

In the past, you needed to create an account and enter your billing information to subscribe to Starz on a Roku player. That was often time-consuming because you had to use your Roku remote and the onscreen keyboard. Soon, with just a few clicks using this new feature, you can use your saved payment information and your Roku account password to sign up for select streaming services on a Roku player through the Roku Channel.

“We’re focused on making it easy to find great entertainment of all types on the platform and adding Premium Subscriptions is a natural evolution for The Roku Channel,” said Rob Holmes, vice president, programming and engagement, Roku. “As a top five channel by active account reach, The Roku Channel is already a great source for free, ad-supported entertainment and provides significant user engagement. By making it easy for users to discover, subscribe to and watch Premium Subscriptions, we believe this offering will result in increased subscriptions and user engagement for our subscription partners and an even better user experience.”

Here is what you can expect from Roku’s new premium subscription service:

  • Free for all users: The Roku Channel will continue to include thousands of free, ad-supported titles available without a subscription on a range of devices; users do not need any subscriptions or memberships to access quality free, ad-supported content
  • Wide variety of subscription partners: Premium Subscription partners at launch include Showtime, Starz, EPIX, Baeble Music, CollegeHumor’s DROPOUT, CuriosityStream, FitFusion, The Great Courses Signature Collection, Hopster, Magnolia Selects presented by Magnolia Pictures, MHz Choice, NOGGIN, Smithsonian Channel Plus, Tastemade, and Viewster Anime
  • One-click subscriptions: Customers will be able to start a free trial or subscribe to new Premium Subscriptions with one click using their existing Roku account information once they visit the subscription page
  • Free trials: All premium content can be trialed for at least seven days
  • Trial reminders: A reminder will be sent before each free trial expires and billing starts
  • Single bill: Subscriptions will be managed directly from my.roku.com. Customers will receive one monthly bill for all premium subscriptions on The Roku Channel

Roku says this updated version of The Roku Channel will begin rolling out to select Roku devices along with iOS and Android in late January. They will continue to roll out through 2019.

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