Hi, everyone !!
This time last week, the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals were just eight games into the "Group Stage" of the tournament... and, since then, there have been a further twenty-one matches played which means there have already been close to thirty games from the FIFA World Cup 2018 for which live coverage has been available for streaming on Roku media players and NOW TV devices in the UK. If you happened to miss my dedicated 'World Cup 2018' article, published mid-week as an extra post between my 'Weekly RoundUp' of two weeks ago and my last 'Weekly RoundUp' article, you can see "How To WATCH THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 LIVE On Roku Players and NowTV Devices" by reading that post, which includes full details on how to live stream the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, both in the UK and other countries around the world, with an emphasis on live streaming World Cup matches using genuine Roku-branded products and/or Roku-Powered™ devices, such as those sold by NOW TV here in the UK (e.g. NOW TV Box, NOW TV Smart Box, or NOW TV Smart Stick).
Unlike the "bare bones" approach of the official "how-to" post from the Roku Stream Blog, that does little more than to name-drop a couple of Roku channels (apps) through which UK Roku users can get live coverage of World Cup 2018 matches, my own "in-depth" article provides kick-off times for every game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament, as well as a complete list of all the fixtures that make-up both the "Group Stage" and "Knockout Stage" of the 2018 World Cup finals, plus specific details as to which broadcast channels (BBC One, ITV, ITV4, etc.) within the main Roku channels (i.e. BBC iPlayer, BBC Sports, ITV Hub, etc.) of more than one half-dozen Roku apps that are at the disposal of Roku UK users... never mind the additional Roku channels (apps) which I've included in the extra country-specific information for those in other Roku "regions" worldwide. So, if you really want to know "HOW TO" watch live coverage of the FIFA World Cup Finals on the Roku platform, be sure to bookmark my dedicated blog post (see link above) and check it on a daily basis between now and the World Cup Final on Sunday 15th July 2018 to discover where & when to watch every game of football (or, "soccer", as some refer to it) from the current World Cup tournament in Russia.
In between all of the football matches from the "Group Stage" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, I did manage to find a few items of Roku-related news to share with you. Firstly, I'd just like to confirm that another major milestone has now been reached, in terms of the number of Roku channels (apps) available to install from the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store... and I'm pleased to say, as of this week, THERE ARE NOW 5,000+ CHANNELS AVAILABLE ON UK ROKU DEVICES which, to give you some perspective, is MORE THAN 100 TIMES AS MANY AS NOW TV'S 'APP STORE' and makes you wonder why anyone would choose to restrict themselves to a total choice of less than fifty streaming apps, by purchasing a NowTV-branded device, when they could get so much more by investing in a genuine Roku-branded media player instead of those locked-down NowTV products!
There was more potentially good news for UK Roku users, as well as those in other countries and/or regions, with an announcement re: the launch of 'IGTV' by Instagram/Facebook. The new long-form video hub will allow users to go beyond the 60-second limit placed on videos uploaded on Instagram today, with IGTV videos able to run up to an hour in length. A related article by 'VentureBeat' says that IGTV "...will put Instagram's content in competition with YouTube" which is probably true, to a certain extent, but they will have to go a long way to match the output from Google's community of video makers if this standalone video app for Instagram users is to succeed on that kind of level. That said, a separate report by 'FierceCable' has revealed how video content from professional publishers (including: BuzzFeed, Discovery Channel, and Vice Media) is also set to feature among the mix of user-generated video so, clearly, they are off to a pretty good start with this long-form video project. Let's just hope that, if they do produce a Roku channel (app) for 'IGTV', they make a better job of it than the original 'Facebook' app for the Roku platform (which was later renamed 'Your Photo Feed' before being removed from the channel store altogether)... surely, it couldn't be any worse than that!?!
Anyway, speaking of channels (apps) being removed from the Roku platform, that brings me nicely around to the next item of Roku-related news that I came across in the last seven days. This story is (most likely) of particular interest to Canadian Roku users, since it concerns the news that Sony have announced they will shut-down their 'Crackle' streaming service in Canada as of 28th June 2018. In a recent related article by 'MobileSyrup' on the subject, they note how "The end of Crackle in Canada comes as 'Bell Media' launches two new Crackle-like free, ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) services called CTV Movies and CTV Vault", but whether these are directly related to the demise of the Canadian 'Crackle' service is (I imagine) open to speculation and/or further discussion. With Roku users in the UK having already suffered a similar fate, albeit a few years ago now, when Sony pulled the plug on 'Crackle' in the United Kingdom... let's hope that Sony can remove their very-soon-to-be non-functional app from the Roku Channel Store in Canada a lot quicker than they did with the UK equivalent, which hung-around like an unwanted guest for more than a year before they deleted it! :-(
Meanwhile, with no other Roku-related news to share this week, I'm now going to get straight into bringing you details of all the latest new Roku channels (apps) which have been released during the seven days since my last 'Weekly RoundUp' post was published! :-)
Firstly, though, I'd just like to mention (on a not entirely un-related note) that I have now added links to some (though, still not all) of the 'Roku Guide' reviews that were previously "missing" for many of the new Roku channels released in the last few weeks... so, if you'd like to see an independent appraisal of those, be sure to check-out my post from last week (see link above), which (itself) contains a link to the previous week's post (and so-on, and so-forth), for details of where to find them. Unfortunately, there are more "missing" links to 'Roku Guide' reviews for half of the new Roku apps which have been published during the last seven days... which means, much like many other posts from recent months, I am going to have to leave it for each of you to access those details on your own. As of four months ago, you can choose to do that either via the built-in channel store on your Roku device(s)... or else, by following the links provided in each post to the relevant channel description(s) from the Roku Web Channel Store. Meanwhile, once the "missing" reviews have been published by 'Roku Guide', I will (as I have done previously) ensure that I add the relevant links to each post. Apologies (as always) for any inconvenience that may be caused by the absence of active links to an independent review for so many of these new apps but, like I say, it was entirely out of my hands. Hopefully they will get a chance to catch-up on them sometime in the coming week!?! ;-) :-)
Still, back to the list... which, as always, will help you to identify the very latest apps that have been added to Roku devices in the UK. Other websites offering Roku channel listings will base their contents on the Roku USA Channel Store, which means they also include apps that are unavailable to UK Roku users. So, like I've said before... if you really want to know what's available channel-wise, for owners of Roku devices in the UK, you need to be reading this blog each and every week! ;-) :-)
With twice the number of active links to check out, not just for this week... but each and every post that has been previously published as part of my 'Weekly RoundUp' series over the last five years, there's a *lot* of reading to catch-up on. So, without further ado, here's my 'Weekly RoundUp' of all new Roku channels released between 17th June 2018 and 23rd June 2018:-
HERBS FOR HEALTH...........................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "LIFESTYLE" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
TOMONEWS...........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "WEB VIDEO" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUTS!...................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "LIFESTYLE" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
MOVIE TRAILERS...............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "FILM & TV" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
OLD-SCHOOL COMEDY FILMS...........................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "COMEDY" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
NC STATE TV..........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "EDUCATIONAL" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
NOLLYFLIX..........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "FILM & TV" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
WILD WORLD - ANIMAL TV...............................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "EDUCATIONAL" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
DREW LYNCH.........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "COMEDY" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
BRANDSTAR TV....................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "LIFESTYLE" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
ALARABY.................................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "NEWS & WEATHER" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
PNC - PIEL SALVAJE....COST: FREE (with ads) + $0.99 PER MONTH (no ads) [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "INTERNATIONAL" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
PLEASE NOTE:- That, although this 'PNC - Piel Salvaje' channel is FREE-TO-ADD to your Roku device(s) and all of the content therein (120 episodes) from five seasons of the Spanish-language TV show is FREE-TO-STREAM by Roku users on an ad-supported basis, anyone wishing to enjoy this on-demand Mexican novella without commercial interruptions should be aware that there is also an option to pay a MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION at a very reasonable USD $0.99 PER MONTH to view the entire collection of videos ENTIRELY AD-FREE should you prefer to do so. The choice is yours but, if you were wondering what was meant by the warning: "May require additional fees" in the app description from the Roku Channel Store, then that is all they were referring to. In other words, it is still possible to add this channel and view all of the content on offer without paying a penny for the privilege of so-doing... provided (of course) you're prepared to put-up with all the advertisements! ;-)
THE COL COLLECTIVE......................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SPORTS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
KYRS RADIO..........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "EDUCATIONAL" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
COMUNIÓN TV.....................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "RELIGIOUS" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
DBLTAP..................................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SPORTS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
GYPSY VANNER HORSE CHANNEL....................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SPECIAL INTEREST" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
BIKE MAGAZINE.................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SPORTS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
CUSA.tv...........................................COST: FREE + $10.99 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SPORTS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
PLEASE NOTE:- That, although this 'CUSA.tv' channel is FREE-TO-ADD to your Roku devices and offers video highlights that are FREE-TO-STREAM without the need to register and/or make any form of payment, those with an interest in Conference USA collegiate sporting events should note that A SUBSCRIPTION WILL BE REQUIRED to access the majority of live plus on-demand video and audio content that is available through this channel. In addition to the USD $10.99 PER MONTH payment plan (mentioned above) there is also an ANNUAL PAYMENT OPTION whereby anyone who subscribes over the long-term, at a cost of USD $99.99 PER YEAR, will stand to save around 25% OFF the equivalent monthly price over a twelve month period. You could also say that, for those prepared to pay for a full year upfront, it is equivalent to getting 3 MONTHS FOR FREE by way of an added benefit for long-term subscribers. Interestingly, they also have a 24-HOUR DAY PASS for the sum of USD $6.95 which is useful if you only wish to pay for limited-time access to view any of the live events on any given day, without having to pay for (at least) a one-month subscription. This struck me as being similar to the 'NOW TV Sports' 1-day pass that we have in the UK, for short-term access to the Sky Sports channels, so the equivalent '24-hour Pass' from 'CUSA.tv' could be useful if there's ever an individual collegiate sporting event that you would like to stream on your Roku. The associated 'Roku Guide' review (see link above) contains full details of the one-dozen plus schools (universities) that comprise the NCAA Division 1 athletic conference known as "Conference USA", so I recommend having a read of that before you subscribe to any of the 'CUSA.tv' payment plans to be certain this channel offers the kind of sporting events that are likely to be of interest to you! ;-) :-)
MEDIA PAM HAITI..............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "FILM & TV" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***