What do New York, LA, Miami and Chicago have in common? As of this week, they’re among the cities whose local news channels are being added to the free Roku Channel, which has over 80,000 movies and shows, so you can stream them on your Roku TV or other Roku device.
The Roku Channel is available to anybody who has a Roku TV like the Roku Plus Series or one of the best Roku streaming devices, such as the Roku Express or Roku Streaming Stick, as well as via the Roku website. And the new additions are good news for news fans in particular, because it means you’ll be able to get local news channels and other key content from some Fox and CBS affiliates.
Why is Roku adding these free channels?
It’s all about trying to be top dog in the booming FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) market, in which Roku is a key player alongside the likes of Amazon’s Freevee and Tubi. By adding local content as well as shows from NBCUniversal, MrBeast, sports, family and Spanish-language programming, Roku wants to make its FAST offering even more attractive.
Although, of course, the rival free channels aren’t sitting still either. Amazon announced a whole bunch 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 here, and as you can see the news content covers quite a lot of 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.
