The Roku Channel


The Roku Channel is an over-the-top streaming television service available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The service was launched in 2017, and is owned and operated by Roku, Inc. It is the most popular free ad-supported streaming television service in the U.S., reaching 145 million people, as of 2024.
The Roku Channel includes over 500 free channels, more than 80,000 free movies and shows, and access to paid content. The service is available through streaming devices, such as Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, on smart TVs by Roku as well as other brands, such as Samsung, with the Roku mobile app, and web browsers running on PCs, tablets or mobile phones. As of 2025, the channel ranks as the fifth most-watched streaming service in the U.S., gathering over 6% of all U.S. TV streaming time.

History

2017–2019: Launch in North America

The Roku Channel was launched in September 2017 as a free, ad-supported streaming television service, available to viewers in the U.S. Roku's CEO Anthony Wood stated in the same month that the channel was a "way for content owners to publish their content on Roku without writing an app". By August 2018, the channel had expanded to Canada, and a website version of the service was launched, allowing it to be accessed via any web browser. In August 2018, The Roku Channel was also reported to have signed content licensing deals with Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, Disney and Paramount Pictures. Additionally, the service offered content from existing partners including American Classics, FilmRise, Nosey, OVGuide, Popcornflix, Vidmark and YuYu. On August 19, 2019, The Roku Channel added its Kids & Family section, with content from partners including Hasbro's Allspark, DHX Media, Lionsgate, Mattel Television and Moonbug Entertainment.

2020–2023: Service expansion

April 2020 saw the launch of The Roku Channel in the UK. In January 2021, Roku announced that it had acquired the original content library of the defunct mobile video service Quibi for an undisclosed amount, reported to be around $100 million, for availability on The Roku Channel. The content was rebranded as Roku Originals. In August 2021, The Roku Channel was reported to add CBC, AccuWeather Now, FilmRise True Crime, Haunt TV and IGN for free streaming.
By March 2022, The Roku Channel included news services such as ABC News, Bloomberg, Cheddar, NBC News, Newsy, People TV, Reuters, USA Today, WeatherNation and Yahoo Finance, all available for free streaming. In October 2022, The Roku Channel was launched in Mexico. According to Deadline Hollywood, October 2022 also saw Charlie Collier, previously the CEO of Fox Entertainment, join Roku as the President of Roku Media to manage ad platform business and content for The Roku Channel and more. Later, in December 2022, Roku announced that it would sign an agreement with the Miss Universe Organization to broadcast the 70th and 71st editions of the Miss Universe beauty pageant in the United States, making the first time the pageant would broadcast on streaming television, after several years on linear television.
By the end of 2022, The Roku Channel was offering premium subscriptions for over 50 services including Discovery+, Paramount+, MGM+, Showtime, Starz, HBO, AMC+, Shudder and Acorn TV. Moreover, The Roku Channel was reaching U.S. households with a total population of 100 million, in Roku's estimates. The Roku Channel was also reportedly the most popular FAST service in the U.S. in 2021 and 2022.
In February 2023, BGR reported that Roku announced the addition of nearly 2000 hours of on-demand content to The Roku Channel. This content included offerings from HBO, HBO Max, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Television. Moreover, this content would be available to stream for free.
In August 2023, it was reported that The Roku Channel was adding several NBCUniversal services as free, ad-supported options. These included NBC News Now, Dateline, Today All Day, NBC local stations, regional Telemundo news channels, Universal Action, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Sky News International, The Rotten Tomatoes Channel and a Universal Crime channel. Further, The Roku Channel became available on Google TV and other Android TV OS devices, in addition to Roku-branded streaming devices and smart TVs, Amazon Fire TVs, Apple TV and Samsung smart TVs. Moreover, a report by Variety in September 2023 stated that The Roku Channel offered more than 80,000 TV shows and movies and access to premium content. Variety also reported that U.S. FAST services, including Roku, Pluto TV, Samsung SmartTV+ and Vizio WatchFree+, had "commercial loads" of about 8 to 9 minutes per hour, compared to 15 to 17 minutes per hour on cable TV.

2024–present: Viewership growth

In January 2024, Roku announced an agreement with Formula E to air all but 5 races per year. Roku was slated to also air Recharge, a studio program aired 24 hours after every race. According to The Wrap in February 2024, The Roku Channel offered over 400 free live linear TV channels and distributed content from over 250 partners. In April 2024, National Basketball Association announced a partnership with Roku to launch "NBA Fast", the first FAST channel from NBA, on The Roku Channel. Roku also announced an agreement with NBA to air more than 40 NBA G League games during the 2024–25 season. In May 2024, The Roku Channel secured a multiyear rights agreement with Major League Baseball to stream live the league's Sunday Leadoff games for free.
In June 2024, measurement firm Comscore found The Roku Channel to be the most popular among all free, ad-supported streaming television streaming services in the U.S. In the same month, Lifewire stated that The Roku Channel could be watched using the Roku mobile app, available for both iOS and Android, and allowed switching among free content, premium subscription services and live TV.
In August 2024, Roku launched a new FAST channel, Roku Sports Channel, to be made available on The Roku Channel. At launch, the sports channel would show live events from MLB Sunday Leadoff, Formula E and the NBA G League and live studio programming from The Rich Eisen Show and GMFB: Overtime. In February 2025, Roku announced it was launching a women's sports studio show, Women's Sports Now, featuring Renee Montgomery, Sarah Tiana and Suzy Shuster. In May 2025, Roku announced that The Roku Sports Channel would now stream on Samsung TV Plus as well.
The Roku Channel was the most watched U.S. based FAST service in November 2024, as per Nielsen's TV viewership data. It reached households representing nearly 145 million people by the end of 2024, in Roku's estimates. According to Nielsen in July 2025, the channel ranked as the fifth most-watched streaming service, trailing YouTube, Netflix, Disney-owned services and Amazon Prime Video. The service accounted for over 6% of all U.S. TV streaming time in September 2025.

Content

Free, ad-supported streaming TV

The Roku Channel includes more than 500 free ad-supported streaming television channels, as of November 2024. They include: