When it comes to what's on television, be it via a Roku player or otherwise, it should really boil down to the QUALITY and NOT QUANTITY of what's on offer, don't you agree?
That said, if what you get has both quality and quantity, then you really will be spoilt for choice !!
If you visited the Roku (UK) official site as of April 2017 you would have been greeted with an introduction that boasted of "over 2,000 channels and counting", which does (I'll admit) tend to emphasise quantity over quality, although the reality is such that there are now more than double that number of Roku channels (apps) available to UK Roku users from within the built-in channel store on *all* Roku UK devices. In terms of the quality for the available channels, there were references to BBC iPlayer, Netflix, NOW TV, Sky Sports, ITV Player, Demand 5, YouTube, BBC Sport and many more. Even so, whilst the likes of Netflix, BBC, NOW TV, etc. do offer a substantial amount of quality programming, you're still left wondering exactly what is meant by "and many more"...
So, with that in mind, I decided to continue with my blog by posting details of what you can expect from, firstly, the "Official" Roku (UK) Channel Store and then, later, from the wider market offered by the multitude of Roku "Private" Channels out there. I'll be getting down to the nitty gritty of the individual channels within specific genres another time but, for now, here's a list of the number of channels available in each 'genre' of the "Official" Roku (UK) Channel Store:-
Film & TV........................... 700 Channels
Games.............................. 187 Channels
Apps.................................. 51 Channels
Comedy.............................. 121 Channels
Educational......................... 124 Channels
Fitness.............................. 75 Channels
Food.................................. 158 Channels
International........................ 183 Channels
Kids & Family..................... 396 Channels
Lifestyle.............................. 265 Channels
News & Weather................ 160 ChannelsMusic................................ 299 Channels
Personal Media.................. 48 Channels
Photo Apps......................... 14 Channels
Religious.............................. 863 Channels
Sci & Tech......................... 60 Channels
Screensavers........................ 253 Channels
Shopping.............................. 18 ChannelsSpecial Interest................... 359 Channels
Sports................................. 248 Channels
Themes.............................. 19 Channels
Travel................................. 217 Channels
Web Video......................... 98 Channels
TOTAL: 4,916 Channels
It should be noted that this total does not include the following:
Featured.............................. 21 Channels
New..................................... 154 Channels
Most Popular....................... 75 Channels
These have been omitted from the overall total because they are comprised entirely of channels which are featured in the main list of genres and, therefore, already part of the 4,916 channels therein. There is also a heading within the main menu on Roku player for "Home" (that was previously referred to as the "My Channels" sub-menu) which, as it's (original) name suggests, is comprised of whatever individual items (both 'official', i.e. 'public', and 'private' channels) have been added to the particular Roku account with which the Roku player is associated. Since that figure will vary from one Roku user to the next, I did not bother to include the number of "My Channels", or "Home" channels, here.
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PLEASE NOTE:- These figures were last updated on Sunday 20th May 2018 with all details accurate as of Saturday 19th May 2018. Therefore, when viewing this list... you should ignore the original date of the post and, instead, refer to this section for precise details on when it was compiled.
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So, that's the current state of play in terms of the sheer QUANTITY of channels you can expect from the UK version of the "Official" Roku (UK) Channel Store. Meanwhile, in case you are wondering, my next batch of posts are set to include basic listings for the various channel names within each of the aforementioned genres. For the sake of simplicity, I will stick to the order outlined above. So, if you want to know exactly what are the 700 channels which make up the "Film & TV" genre, you should make a point of visiting this blog again in the near future.
But, for now... that's all folks !!
I'm trying to decide on the best streaming device on a budget, roku getting good reviews but this blog is most helpful from a UK point of view, thankyou very much!
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DeleteHi, Bridgette !!
Firstly, thanks for reading this blog and for your kind words... they're much appreciated! :-)
As far as which budget streaming device to opt for (and I assume you've looked at the NowTV Box, Amazon FireTV Stick and/or Google Chromecast as well as the Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version) plus, perhaps, the Roku 1 among your options?) it really boils down to what you intend to watch. Once you've figured that out, it's a simple matter of buying the budget streaming device which best meets your needs.
Roku devices (regardless of which model you choose) pretty much have all of the bases covered now... with Netflix, NowTV and Amazon Video all to be found in the Roku UK Channel Store - as well as all of the UK CatchUpTV services (BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and Demand 5) - then there's pay-per-view movies from the likes of Sky Store, CinemaNow, Sainsburys Entertainment and GooglePlay Movies & TV, to name but a few. In total (as of the date of this reply) there are 2,250+ Roku apps available across all Roku models, with the flagship 'Roku 3' currently offering a choice of 2,342 channels via the built-in channel store on the device. Basically, there's plenty of choice, whatever your budget!
That said, if you need any further help with your decision, feel free to leave another message here or, for a more swift response, contact me via the companion Twitter Feed to this blog: @ukrokuchannels and I'll do what I can to assist you. All of the devices I mentioned have their merits but, like I say, which one is best for you will depend on your intended use for them and which streaming services you require.
Are the UK Channels a sub-set of the US channels, or are some of the UK channels unique to the UK? I can't get the links on the RHS panel of your page to work. Thanks for your blog, Bill T
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