Saturday, August 29, 2015

Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #129





Hi, everyone !!



As much as I love my Roku streaming media players and would champion the 'Roku 3' model, in particular, above all of the UK competition (NowTV Box, Apple TV, Chromecast, etc.) the company behind my preferred streaming device can often leave me dismayed by their actions. One such case in point happened this week when, having championed rock music by promoting the "Mullet" channel via Twitter (@RokuUK) for "Throwback Thursday", the folks at Roku (UK) neglected to offer their new 'AC/DC' theme to UK Roku owners when it appeared as an "surprise" theme on Roku devices in the USA just two days later (i.e. Saturday 29th August 2015) - just take a look at the screenshots below, to see what is currently adorning the background theme on Roku players in the USA:-





PHOTO CREDIT: Inaudible Noise [Twitter Feed: @InaudibleNoise]






PHOTO CREDIT: WifeMotherCrip [Twitter Feed: @WifeMotherCrip]





PHOTO CREDIT: WifeMotherCrip [Twitter Feed: @WifeMotherCrip]





My thanks to both 'InaudibleNoise' and 'WifeMotherCrip' for sharing those images with me via their respective Twitter Feeds (see 'PHOTO CREDIT' info, above) and pretty good they look too - what a shame the folks at Roku did not think to extend this great theme to UK Roku users, too! :-(


I'm a bit short on time today (Saturday) so I'll expand a bit more on the recent misgivings with Roku over the course of the next few days. Meanwhile, if (like me) you would have liked the chance to add the above theme to your UK Roku device, please make your thoughts and feelings known to Roku via the appropriate channels - social media (Twitter Feeds: @RokuPlayer and @RokuUK) being just two of the public ways you can vent your frustrations on this matter which, let's not forget, is not the first time UK Roku owners have been left wanting (House of Cards, Game of Thrones and Star Wars themes come to mind, from recent memory) but let's hope we can make it the last! ;-)


Anyway, before I proceed with listing the current crop of new channels (plus providing links to their associated reviews) for this particular 'Weekly RoundUp'... a brief reminder that, whilst I had hoped I'd be able to catch-up on the missing Roku-related news from this blog in recent weeks, all the extra work I've been burdened with of late means 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 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, but (all being well) things will be back up to speed soon!


For now... all I can offer you is a summary of the latest additions to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store from the past seven days. As with my other recent posts, you can expect any additional Roku-related news from the 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 forty-two 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, every link from this week (plus all future posts) will use 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 !!


Still, with all the "missing" Roku-related news (and links) yet 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 FOURTEEN NEW CHANNELS which have been added during the preceding seven day period. These latest additions provided FRESH CONTENT in the Movies & TV, Games, Educational, Kids & Family, Personal Media, Religious, and Sports categories. Specifically... this means there have been no less than EIGHT EXTRA CHANNELS added to the "Games" genre, plus ONE EXTRA CHANNEL added in each of the "Movies & TV", "Educational", "Kids & Family", "Personal Media", "Religious", plus "Sports" categories, among the new choices which have been introduced to the Roku UK channel selection during this past 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:-








MAHJONG FRUITS.......................COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






PATIENCE......................................COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






ROCKSWAP ADVENTURES.......COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






SUDOKU........................................COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






KABOOM........................................COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






TEXAS HOLD 'EM.........................COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






DRACULA's COFFIN....................COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






INVESTMENT PITCH MEDIA.............................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "SPORTS" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






ALL CONNECT.....................COST: FREE (n.b. requires companion app) [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "PERSONAL MEDIA" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***






COACB TV39.........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "RELIGIOUS" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






BADAMI TV...........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "MOVIES & TV" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***






KIDS FOOD NETWORK.......................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

***FILED UNDER: "KIDS & FAMILY" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***






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

***FILED UNDER: "EDUCATIONAL" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***






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

***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***




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Anyhow, like it or not, that is your lot for this week and, whilst it only amounts to around half of the twenty-nine channels which made it into the "Official" Roku USA Channel Store during the same time-frame, it's better to have a choice of 14 NEW CHANNELS than none at all, don't you think?!


Meanwhile... hopefully everyone in the UK with a Roku player managed to find something they like within the fourteen "public" channels outlined above... or else from the "private" channels, whose access codes were "gifted" to you via the companion Twitter Feed to this blog, at various points throughout the last seven days. Even so, if you didn't find anything to add to your Roku channel selection from the assortment of channels on offer this week, 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 like I say... when it comes to adding new channels to your Roku, 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 fifty-six 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 !!