Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #70

Hi, everyone !!



Following on from the news I brought you in my 'Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #69' last week (concerning updates to the software version(s) on the various UK Roku player models) I have a FURTHER UPDATE on the, errr... UPDATES !! If you recall, I asked for anyone that owned either a 'Roku LT' or one of the newer 'Roku 1' / 'Roku 2' models to contact me with the relevant version / build numbers for the software updates to those streaming media players. Fortunately... one of my blog readers, namely Dave/Dim [Twitter Feed: @dimspace], answered that call and (thanks to Dave/Dim) I can now confirm that 'Roku 1' models should have been updated to 'Version 5.5 - Build 321'. So far, however, no-one has provided any details about the new version / build numbers (if any) for the other UK Roku players, such as the 'Roku LT' or the newer 'Roku 2' models. For the benefit of other UK Roku owners, if anyone owns one of those particular Roku players here in the UK, perhaps you could take a quick look at the 'About' sub-menu of your Roku 'Settings' menu and leave a comment (below) with the relevant version / build numbers (plus details of the Roku model the info was taken from), or send a tweet to the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels for this blog, and (again) I'll try to mention it in a future post once I've had a chance to confirm it.


Unfortunately, aside from a good amount of new channels being added, there's been very little else in terms of Roku-related news during the past seven days. That said... I did happen to come across a handy tip, VIA THIS ARTICLE, from 'MacWorld' for those of you who might have been wanting to add a 'Roku' code to your Logitech Harmony remote but have (thus far) been unable to do so. Essentially, the "trick" is to look for your Roku model under the list of 'DVD Players' to make your 'Harmony' remote aware of your Roku but, if you read the article, it will all become clear to you.

Anyway, let's now press on with the details for the current 'Weekly RoundUp' of NEW ADDITIONS to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. This time, there are EIGHTEEN NEW CHANNELS which have been added during the past seven days. These latest additions to the channel line-up have provided us with FRESH CONTENT in the Film & TV, Music, Internet TV, Photos & Video, plus Religion & Spirituality genres (i.e. categories).

In keeping with previous installments from the 'Weekly RoundUp' series, details of these new channels have all been listed below, together with links to obtain further information {by clicking on the channel name(s) beneath the respective channel icon(s) as pictured} and to read a 'Roku Guide' review (where available) with an independent (slightly more expansive) assessment of each one:-

AL ALAM (ARABIC NEWS)............................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

E3TV...................................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

JOYFUL NOISE.................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

GENERATION NOW NETWORK...................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

NEW AFRICA CHANNEL................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

TIPS FOR SURVIVING.............COST: £1.49 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

REAL HIP-HOP NETWORK.............................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

CNL (RUSSIAN / UKRANIAN).......................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

Q106.8 COUNTRY.............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

MEDIABOX USB.......................COST: £1.49 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

PLEASE NOTE:- That this channel requires your Roku player to be equipped with a USB port in order for it to function. As you might expect, this rules out the use of this channel with the original 'Roku LT', as well as 'Roku 1' and 'Roku 2' models, plus the newer 'Roku Streaming Stick'. However, rather surprisingly, it has not (yet) been configured to work with the Roku 2 XS - despite the original Roku UK flagship player having the required USB port - and, as of this moment, the 'MediaBoxUSB' channel is ONLY AVAILABLE ON 'Roku 3' PLAYERS and does not (currently) feature among the selection of channels found in the "Photos & Video" category of any other UK Roku model. Perhaps, if they see this post, the developers of the 'MediaBoxUSB' channel (PlayAlong TV Limited) will make the necessary change(s) to update their channel for the benefit of Roku 2 XS owners but, for now, it's one channel (or, "app", if you prefer) that is EXCLUSIVE TO 'ROKU 3' OWNERS when it comes to making use of the USB port on suitably-equipped UK models of the Roku streaming media player.

SUPER CHANNEL.............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

SAMMY TIPPIT MINISTRIES MEDIA.............................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

BLUEGRASS JAM.............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

YEBO..................................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

AD-FREE TIMELESS TELEVISION........COST: £0.69 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]

SEAGATE MEDIA.............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

CARTOON STATION.......................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

COMEDY CLASSICS STATION......................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

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Anyway, like it or not, that is your lot for this week and, whilst it doesn't quite the match-up to the twenty-one channels which made it into the "Official" Roku USA Channel Store during the same time-frame, I always think it's better to have SOME NEW CHOICES than none at all, don't you ?!!

Still, hopefully everyone in the UK with a Roku player managed to find something they like within the eighteen channels outlined above. If not, then you'll just have to pay us a visit another time when, with any luck, there will be something more to your liking. Afterall, there's no point installing every channel because, as I've said before, when it comes to adding new channels to your Roku player, IT'S YOUR CHOICE and, as with all things Roku... THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS YOURS !!

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In the meantime, for my last forty-eight 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, I have been suggesting we spare a thought for all the poor folk who handed over their hard-earned cash for one of those NowTV Boxes [Powered by Sky] which, as I keep saying, have (so far) totally failed to live up to their full potential. Likewise, the original promise from NowTV of "more apps being continually added", is yet to be adhered to, since there have been ONLY THREE NEW CHANNELS ADDED to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box SINCE THE PRODUCT LAUNCHED and two of those first appeared just four weeks ago !!  Of course, getting two new channels from the so-called "developers" at NowTV in one go was always likely to be no more than a "flash in the pan" and (perhaps) unsurprisingly, since then, it's been back to "business as usual" as far as (not) adding any new channels to the (already severely reduced) Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box is concerned. Meanwhile, it looks like this lack of productivity has now led to a "state of emergency" at NowTV HQ, with the police having since been called-in to investigate the suspicious lack of channels on NowTV Boxes:-

HINT: Click on the above image to ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

PHOTO SOURCE: twentytwowords.com

Rumours that the police involvement in this matter came about as a direct result of several concerned NowTV Box owners filing a series of "Missing Channel" reports have yet to be substantiated. When questioned on the matter, the NowTV developers claimed there was "nothing going on" and, based on their past history of new channel additions, the police had no reason to doubt this. The investigating officer, meanwhile, has since confirmed that they "have very little to go on" (surprise, surprise!). What the police failed to anticipate, however, was that it would be the NowTV tumbleweed saying "we've got you surrounded" when the lone squad car arrived on the scene to assess the situation. Of course, the real "crime" here is that so few of the 1,100+ Roku channels available on UK Roku players have been made available to NowTV Box owners, with the powers that be at NowTV still insisting on forcing us to "reach for the Sky (channels)" and not giving us much choice from everything else that features in the Roku Channel Store on UK models of the Roku streaming media players. Sadly, it's looking like there'll be no "Arrested Development" (or, arrested developers) here anytime soon... for that, you'll need to turn to 'Netflix' which is another "missing channel" that could easily be on NowTV Boxes !!


Consequently, it's likely to be of no surprise to any of you that (as with EVERY WEEK BAR TWO since launch) there has (yet again) been literally NO ACTION in terms of NEW ADDITIONS to the Roku Channel Store selection on the NowTV Box. What this means is that, over the course of the past week, NowTV have (again) produced a (NOT SO) GRAND TOTAL of ZERO NEW CHANNELS to add to their (already SEVERELY REDUCED) version of the Roku Channel Store as included on their NowTV Box. Meanwhile, the "Official" Roku Channel Store that features on all UK Roku players has added a further EIGHTEEN EXTRA CHANNELS during that same period of time. To keep things firmly in perspective, in the fifty weeks since the launch of the NowTV Box, there has been a total of FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT EXTRA CHANNELS added to the Roku Channel Store on UK Roku players, as compared with THREE EXTRA CHANNELS being added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. That, surely, must tell you something ?!!!

Like I've said in previous weeks, it seems to be a case of one step forward and two steps back when it comes to the meagre selection of channels available in the Roku Channel Store which features on the streaming media player from NowTV. To illustrate my point... from the moment that the NowTV Box was launched, they have managed to completely lose 'WatchIndia' and 'USTV Now', with '4oD', 'ITV Player' and 'BBC Sport' being the only channels added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box since it launched !! Then, a few months back, came the turn for '4oD' to up-sticks and leave it's original home in the "Film & TV" category to hide-out in the "Most Popular" channels, presumably (like 'Flixster' before it) preferring the (relative) obscurity of a twenty-five channel lineup to the company of just six other channels with which it had shared the genre since 'Flixster' went into hiding. Perhaps worse still was the loss of 'MLB.TV' from the "News, Weather, Sport" category which, unless you added it previously (in which case you'll find it under 'My Channels' in the menu), you will not (currently) be able to add to the channel selection on your NowTV Box. In fact, as far as the channel selection on the NowTV Box goes, the best I can say is that at least the 'Havoc Television' and 'VEVO' channels (which had both been missing an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for quite some time) have now managed to stay put for the past few months, having found their way back into the 'Music' genre (i.e. category) of the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. Likewise... the other channel lacking an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for a long while, namely 'HooplaKidz Rhymes', remains part of "Internet TV".

Even with the two recent channel additions, there are still just 48 CHANNELS to be found in the NowTV Box version of the Roku Channel Store PLUS the 'NOW TV', 'Sky News' and 'Sky Store' channels which (unfortunately) means the overall total remains at only fifty-one channels (just one more than there was when the product was launched towards the end of July 2013). Plus, let's not forget, those last three are only there by default and not included with the apps (i.e. channels) in the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. If we then leave aside the "Most Popular" channels and any additional ones listed in "My Channels" (as I do with my channel count for the Roku player), when it comes to the actual Roku Channel Store categories on the NowTV Box, there remains no more than a paltry 46 channels in total compared with 1,100+ in the channel store on UK Roku players !!!

Bearing this in mind... whilst the NowTV Box won't exactly leave you out-of-pocket, if you are after a streaming media player which can genuinely boast of "more apps being continually added" and is a lot less likely to leave you wanting by the time the summer holiday period begins, then I strongly advise you to do yourselves a BIG FAVOUR and spend the extra twenty quid or so to get a genuine original Roku LT streaming media player that will allow you to ACCESS NETFLIX plus many other film & tv channels (incl. NowTV) as well as having both the 'Plex' and 'YouTube' channels readily available via the channel store and will give you more than 1,050 EXTRA CHANNELS TO CHOOSE FROM when compared with the selection (currently) found on a NowTV Box.

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Still, whether you happen to own a Roku player, a NowTV Box, OR BOTH, as I do... be sure to come back in seven days' time for my next 'Weekly RoundUp' and, if you can't wait that long, remember you can always keep up with all the UK Roku action (as it happens) throughout the coming week, by following the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels where up-to-the-minute info on all things Roku-related (here in the UK) is posted on a daily basis (well, almost).

Until the next time, then...

That's all folks !!