Hi, everyone !!
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that there were a couple of "holidays" (i.e. "public" or "bank" holidays, as UK readers would likely refer to them) in the shape of "Thanksgiving" and "Black Friday" for those residing in the USA, it's been a quiet week in terms of new additions to the Roku Channel Store in all regions... just take a quick look below and you'll see exactly what that means for UK Roku owners !!
That said, as with last year, the idea of "Black Friday" sparking off the winter sales is starting to catch on in the UK with many retailers offering some hefty discounts to tempt the British public into parting with their cash as we all count down the shopping days to 25th December. Eagle-eyed online shoppers looking for a Roku bargain might even have spotted some special announcements, via the companion Twitter Feed to this blog: @ukrokuchannels, in which I gave details of some HUGE SAVINGS to be had on the current crop of Roku streaming media players. These were all courtesy of Amazon UK who, during the past week, have offered 'Roku 3' for £69.00 (usually £99.99) and 'Roku 2' for only £49.00 (otherwise £79.99), plus 'Roku 1' at just £28.98 (instead of £59.99). This meant each customer stood to make A SAVING OF OVER THIRTY POUNDS on those particular Roku models and (if you're quick) you'll find that (as of the date of this post) you can still take advantage of those bargain prices - BUT HURRY, THESE DEALS WON'T BE AROUND FOREVER !!!!!!
In other news... the folks at 'Rdio' have recently teamed up with Roku to provide new Roku purchasers with a 2-MONTH TRIAL OF 'RDIO UNLIMITED' and FREE ACCESS to 30+ MILLION SONGS via their Roku streaming media player(s) which would otherwise have cost £19.98 for such a premium service as this! Details of the promotion were made known, VIA THIS PAGE, on the "Official" Roku UK website and, not that it was needed... but, this provides added incentive for anyone considering the purchase of a new Roku player as a gift for that special someone (even if you are "self-gifting", as per the 2013 holiday campaign). So, if you'd like to get 60 DAYS OF 'RDIO UNLIMITED' for FREE, all you need to do is purchase and activate any new Roku device before 15th January 2015. After that, you simply need to install the 'Rdio' channel on your new Roku player and sign-in / sign-up to an 'Rdio' account by clicking the relevant links on your screen. You will then have until 31st January 2015 to "Upgrade" and claim your two free months' of 'Rdio Unlimited' for FULL ACCESS to the service !!
PLEASE NOTE:- That, if you do intend to take advantage of this offer from Rdio / Roku, you should make a point of reading the FULL T&C's which can be found using the (above) link for details of the promotion. Essentially, UNLESS YOU CANCEL during your free "introductory offer" then you will be liable to paying a (monthly) fee of £9.99 which will automatically continue indefinitely until you do take the necessary steps to cancel the subscription. To learn more about the cancellation procedure you should visit the relevant page(s) of the "Official" Roku UK website, FOUND HERE, which will help you to (hopefully) avoid any unplanned expenditure. That said... you should receive an email, reminding you that the "Introductory Offer" is about to expire, before the end of the introductory period but, in any event, A FEE WILL BECOME PAYABLE IF YOU DO NOT CANCEL so it's probably better to be safe than sorry by taking care of things yourself and not relying on an email reminder !!!!!!
Before I proceed any further with this 'Weekly RoundUp'... a quick reminder that, whilst I had hoped that I'd be able to catch-up on the missing Roku-related news from this blog in the coming weeks, with all the extra work I've been burdened with of late, it remains unlikely that I'll be fully caught-up anytime soon. Until I do find the time... my one saving grace is that (as mentioned previously) I have somehow managed to remain up-to-date with all of the latest additions to the "New" category of the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store and will endeavour to flesh-out what's missing ASAP! Admittedly, there are quite a few articles that I need to catch up on but, rather than post links for individual weeks, I'll simply refer you back to my "Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #78", which contains all of the pertinent information you might need when researching back over the items in question. Again, I'm sorry this has dragged-on (far) longer than anticipated, and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you in the meantime, but (all being well) things will be back to speed before too long!
For now... all I can offer you (once again) is a brief summary of the latest channel additions to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store from the past seven days. As with my other recent posts, you can expect all the Roku-related news from this past week, along with details of any changes to the channel selection found on NowTV Boxes, to be added at some point in the near future. As for "mending" all of the "broken" links from previous 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, I still can't put a time-scale on how long that is going to take but (like I said before) if you "copy" the existing link(s) and change the "http" prefix to "https", as well as removing the "forward slash" between 'channels' and '#!details', so that "channels#/!details" becomes "channels#!details" in each weblink, you should find that they will all work for you and redirect to the new-look version of each individual channel description. As with the last couple of 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, every link from this week (as well as all future posts) will make use of the new format, so it's only those from 'Weekly RoundUp #1' up as far as 'Weekly RoundUp #86' which you'll have to amend... at least, until I can edit/repair the links for you !!
Anyway, with all the "missing" Roku-related news (and links) still to follow, let's now press on with the current 'Weekly RoundUp' of NEW ADDITIONS to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. This time, there are TWO NEW CHANNELS which have been added during the past seven days. These latest additions to the channel line-up provided FRESH CONTENT in each of the Film & TV, plus Food genres (i.e. categories). Specifically, this means there's just ONE EXTRA CHANNEL in both the "Film & TV" and "Food" genre(s), among the meagre selection of new channels that have been added to the channel store on all Roku streaming media players in the UK, during the last week.
In keeping with previous installments from the 'Weekly RoundUp' series, details of these new channels have 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 with an independent (slightly more expansive) assessment of each one:-
TASTEMADE....................................COST: FREE + $4.99 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
PLEASE NOTE:- That, whilst the 'Tastemade' channel is FREE-TO-ADD to your Roku player(s) and there is a FREE-TO-VIEW option for watching the content therein, the description from the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store states that this particular channel "May require addditional fees" in order to stream it's content. What this means is that THERE IS ALSO AN OPTION TO UPGRADE to a more "enhanced" (as well as ad-free) version of the channel, known as 'Tastemade Plus', through which you will be able to GAIN EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO LONGER SHOWS and BONUS FOOTAGE which is not available via the "basic" channel. The cost of a 'TASTEMADE PLUS' SUBSCRIPTION is just $4.99 PER MONTH and you can read more about it, VIA THIS DEDICATED PAGE, on the website. For further details, I recommend you read the 'Roku Guide' review for this channel (see link above) and visit the 'Tastemade' website, FOUND HERE. Alternatively, you can submit any questions you may have via their Facebook Page: Tastemade (Facebook) or Twitter Feed: @Tastemade.
IAMFLIX...........COST: FREE (ONE-MONTH TRIAL) + SUBSCRIPTION / PPV [Roku Guide Review]
PLEASE NOTE:- That, whilst the 'IAMflix' channel is FREE-TO-ADD to your Roku player(s) and there is a FREE TRIAL giving you access for ONE MONTH completely FREE-OF-CHARGE, the description from the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store states that this particular channel "May require addditional fees" in order to view it's content. What this means is that, whilst the content of the 'IAMflix' channel is FREE-TO-VIEW (during the FREE TRIAL offer), there is A PAY-PER-VIEW (PPV) OPTION via which you can rent individual titles for a fee of $1.99 PER 24-HOUR PERIOD, for a more personal (if somewhat limited) viewing experience, once your introductory offer has ended. There are also various MONTHLY / ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS (with and without ads) ranging from $5.99/month (ad-supported) to $92.99/year (ad-free) offering FULL UNRESTRICTED ACCESS. For further details, I recommend your reading the 'Roku Guide' review for this channel (see link above) and visiting the 'IAMflix' website, FOUND HERE, which (between them) should be able to answer most (if not all) of the questions you may have regarding this Roku channel.
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Anyhow, like it or not, that is your lot for this week and, whilst it doesn't quite match-up to the seven 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 two 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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As mentioned earlier in this post, you can expect my usual summary of all the goings-on (or not) in the (severely restricted) Roku Channel Store that features on NowTV Boxes to follow in the near future. Meanwhile, whether you happen to own a Roku player, a NowTV Box, OR BOTH, as I do... be sure to check my previous posts (as mentioned above) for all the new additions to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store in each of the seventeen preceding weeks and then come back again in seven days' time for my next 'Weekly RoundUp'. However, 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 !!
