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

Roku adds Live TV Zone to homescreen

Neil Jansen
By

Roku today announced that it’s implementing a “Live TV” zone on its home screen. Live TV offers access to the Roku Live TV Channel Guide and a simple way to access cable-cutting options such as YouTube TV, Sling, Philo, Hulu, fuboTV, and others.

The Live TV Channel Guide will offer customers access to more than 200 free live channels ranging from local and national news, sports, children’s programming, lifestyle, and Spanish language entertainment as well. Some channels include ABC News Live, Funny or Die, WeatherNation, and Game Show Central.  Movie lovers will be happy to note the Live TV Channel Guide also includes over 25,000 free movies to stream.

Related Videos
Roku Live TV interface on a TV screen.
Roku

How to get to the Live TV Zone

  1. Turn on your Roku device.
  2. On the left-hand navigation menu scroll down to Live TV or search for “Live TV Zone.”

TV Streaming is king

Elsewhere, Roku recently promoted market research from National Research Group has shown that although cable-cutting and streaming are growing (four out of five are TV streamers versus two of three who pay for traditional TV), 61% of streamers still watch live news multiple times a week. The new Roku update is designed for those still interested in entertainment that only live TV can offer.

As more and more of Gen Z reaches adulthood, growing up without cable and the social community that primetime TV watching used to provide, streaming will continue to gain audience share, especially when considering that cord-cutters pay less than half of traditional TV viewers.

Roku was named America’s No. 1 streaming platform for 2021 and considering their market pull, it will be interesting to watch if live TV subscriptions shift and change with this small change for the Roku home screen.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
The best live TV streaming services: Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and more
best streaming TV service

If you're thinking of cutting the cable cord, it's never been a better time, and networking and streaming giants are falling all over themselves to provide the best alternatives for live TV streaming. From Hulu with Live TV to Sling TV to YouTube TV, there are a number of ways to watch televised events live or catch up on your favorite network shows without paying for cable.

Each of these services has its own price tag and list of special features to stand out from one another. However, differentiating between them as a consumer can feel overwhelming. We’ve done our best to simplify the shopping process for you and explain the best live TV streaming services available today.

Read more
YouTube TV: plans, pricing, channels, how to cancel, and more
The YouTube TV on a Roku TV.

When you think of streaming video, you think YouTube. And so YouTube TV — Google's live TV streaming service — very much just makes sense for a lot of people. Designed for those who want to cut the cord and ditch their cable or satellite subscriptions (and known in the industry as a multichannel video programming distributor, or MPVD), YouTube TV competes in the same arena as other streaming television services like DirecTV Stream (formerly known as AT&T TV Now and DirecTV Now), Sling TV, FuboTV, and Hulu With Live TV.

And YouTube TV offers a unique mix of features that make it very appealing, so much so that it's now the No. 1 service in the U.S. in terms of the number of paid subscribers, with some 5 million subscribers as of June 2022 — up some 2 million from the last time the service gave an update in October 2020. The popularity is due to several factors. YouTube TV is easy to use. It's got a selection of channels that's competitive with all its rivals. And the YouTube TV price is competitive, too. You're able to watch YouTube TV on pretty much any modern device. And the fact that parent company Alphabet (aka Google) has been marketing the heck out of it the past few years certainly hasn't hurt, either.

Read more
YouTube TV increases its monthly prices by $8 – is now the time to switch?
YouTube TV on Roku.

YouTube TV has raised the price of its monthly subscription by $8, from $65 to $73. The move comes on the heels of its announcement that it will be adding a multiview feature for sports channels. The change in price will hit current subscribers on April 18, however, the streaming service, which is owned by Google, has already started charging new customers the higher price.

It's been a while since YouTube TV last raised its prices. That was in 2020, when the streaming service increased subscriptions from $50 to $65. When the service first launched in 2017, it only cost $35 per month.

Read more