Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. Guides

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

How to watch local channels on your Roku device

Michael Bizzaco
By

Let’s face it: No one likes paying for cable. These days, the cost of even the most basic provider plans is enough to stir any stomach. But is there really any alternative? Technically, yes. If you’ve got a Roku streaming device, or if you’re considering picking one up, the popular gadget offers several backdoor portals to some of the greatest local-area content, including news, weather, sports, and more. Read on to discover how to unlock your favorite local streams.

See more:

The world of news congregators

Roku TV homescreen
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Roku Channel Store offers a number of free news congregator channels. Think of these as gateways to a multitude of local news, weather, and sports outlets. While there’s no guarantee you’ll find the exact local affiliates you’re looking for, there’s a good chance you’ll find something close enough to your zip code to satisfy your viewing needs. We’ve broken down several of the best congregators below:

  • NewsOn — NewsOn provides access to more than 275 local stations in more than 160 markets. You can search for affiliates by station or location and store your preferred local providers in the Favorites category. And with the Live Stations feature, you’ll also be notified when certain affiliates go live with the latest local coverage.
  • Haystack TV (free) — Haystack curates a personalized feed of world and local news based on coverage from more than 300 trusted outlets. Within the channel, you can customize your menus based on topics, categories, and providers.
  • Pluto TV — Pluto TV is a great way to catch local coverage from outlets like NBC News, Bloomberg, and more. Better yet, the channel is also a portal to hundreds of free movies and TV shows, all available for streaming.
  • CBS News — The CBS News channel connects you to local coverage from CBS’s nine local streams, including Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and more. You can also watch additional clips and recaps from popular CBS programming like CBS This Morning, CBS Evening News, and 60 Minutes.
Recommended Videos

Paid channel subscriptions

Paying for a bunch of stations you’ll never watch is a huge waste of money. Nowadays, though, thanks to streaming hardware like the Roku Streaming Stick+, you can pick and choose the TV services you’d like to subscribe to. While you’ll still pay a monthly fee for the following services, it beats the cost of a full bundle of stations you simply won’t use. Below, we’ve broken down some of the best paid stand-alone Roku channels below:

  • YouTube TV ($64/month) — YouTube TV lets you stream and record live TV from more than 85 different networks, including local news and sports coverage from various affiliate stations. You can have six YouTube TV accounts per household.
  • Hulu + Live TV ($64/month) — A Hulu + Live TV subscription grants you access to all of Hulu’s movies and shows in addition to popular cable channels like AMC, FX, and HGTV. You can also watch local news and sports coverage from ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS affiliates.
  • FuboTV ($64/month) — Free for the first seven days, FuboTV goes heavy on the local sports coverage. You’ll also be able to watch national, international, and regional event coverage from FOX, NBC, Comcast SportsNet, and more.
  • Sling TV ($35 to $50/month) — Sling TV connects you to news sources like ABC News Live, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, and various affiliate stations.

Deep dive for affiliate channels

The four major TV networks — ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC — are each partnered with several regionally based affiliate stations to provide local coverage. Many of these regional stations offer their own streaming apps on the Roku Channel Store. Based on the channel you’ve selected, you’ll get anything from news recaps to video clips and even livestreams. As these are channels designed by the affiliate stations themselves, not every station will be the same in terms of both the user interface and the available content. Popular options include ABC 7 Chicago, NBC 4 New York, FOX 13 Memphis, and WKYT News Kentucky.

Related

You can also scroll through Roku’s lineup of affiliates by navigating to the News and Weather section of the Roku Channel Store.

Adding an OTA antenna

ClearStream Eclipse antenna mounted beside a TV
Antennas Direct

If you’re looking for a more traditional local network experience, you can always pair an over-the-air antenna with your Roku device. Where antennas were once roof-mounted nightmares, many of today’s OTA antennas are about as big as a dinner plate and require little effort to set up, even if you don’t know how to install an antenna. Connect the coaxial cable to your TV’s coaxial input, run a channel search, and you’re good to go. Do keep in mind that, when it comes to antennas, you’re at the mercy of Mother Nature. Windy and rainy days may cause choppy images on your TV.

Also, unless you’re up for running an intricate in-home splitter system, you’ll need to buy an OTA antenna for each TV you want to get local stations on.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Michael Bizzaco
Michael Bizzaco
Michael Bizzaco has been writing about and working with consumer tech for well over a decade, writing about everything from…
How we test streaming video devices
The box for the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

One of the benefits of being Digital Trends is that we get to test a lot of things that simply aren’t easily available or replaceable should they not work out for the average person. That’s why we put so much work into testing TVs, for one example. Or full soundbar setups, for another.

Other times it’s because we’re able to take products for a test drive before they go on sale. Like video games, or computers and phones. That’s good because it helps you make a relatively expensive and important purchase decision.

Read more
How we test TVs
LG G3

Finding the right TV can be a real challenge. Unless you want to drag your La-Z-Boy to the local big-box retailer and ask to spend the night, it’s hard to get the hands-on time you need to make an educated decision. And even if you do, comparing the minutiae of dozens of similar sets can seem to be an impossible task. That’s what we’re here for.

At Digital Trends, we aim for our TV reviews to provide readers with insight into a product's technical performance as well as its usability. We go beyond specs and measurements by spending equal time on the user experience. For televisions, that means taking a close look at all the little touch points that, taken together, make the difference between a TV you can live with and a TV you’ll love. Here’s how we test TVs to provide readers with valuable, real-world insight before making that important purchasing decision, and to help qualify TVs for our list of the best TVs you can buy.
Unboxing and placement

Read more
What is Paramount Plus? Price, plans, and what you can watch
Paramount Plus logo on an Apple TV.

Paramount Plus — the streaming service once known as CBS All Access — has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. It started as the streaming home for all things CBS. But executives quickly saw the writing on the well. Streaming was the future, and CBS was an America-only brand.

So in March 2021, a pivot occurred. CBS All Access became Paramount Plus. And soon thereafter, parent company ViacomCBS transitioned into Paramount Global, taking its streaming service worldwide, taking with it exclusive content that otherwise might have remained domestic. (Some still has different global distributors, but that's another problem for another time.)

Read more