Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #32

Hi, everyone !!

Those of you who have been reading this blog for the past few months, or so... and/or happened to read my "Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #20" may recall my mentioning in that post about the unexpected appearance, and subsequent mysterious disappearance, of a standalone 'BBC News' channel in the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. At the time, I do remember asking the BBC why that was but, perhaps unsurprisingly, there was no official comment on the matter. Since then I have been dropping the odd hint about it in their direction and, AMAZINGLY, it seems that my persistence has been rewarded because, THIS WEEK, the 'BBC News' channel was FINALLY ADDED to UK Roku players having been exclusive to the NowTV Box since that initial sighting. 

Speaking of the NowTV Box, I am very grateful to Darren Newman (from Marlborough, in Wiltshire) for drawing my attention to THIS ARTICLE from 'VoD Professional', during the week, since it contained some VERY EXCITING NEWS concerning the apparent development of a NEW NowTV CHANNEL for the Channel Four '4oD' CatchUp TV service, AS SHOWN HERE:- 

"The NOW TV Box comes with a wide range of apps,  providing access to a whole host of entertainment  on the main TV set, with even more to come  by the end of the year with the addition of Channel 4's catch-up TV service, 4oD"

SOURCE: VoD Professional 

Knowing (as we do) that the NowTV Box is, essentially, a Roku LT player in a rebranded casing, BUT with a SEVERELY REDUCED version of the Roku Channel Store included, we can safely assume that if a '4oD' channel were to be added to the NowTV Box, it should be equally capable of functioning on a Roku player... which (of course) bodes well, as far as CatchUp TV is concerned, for each and every Roku owner living in the UK, as well as potential purchasers of the streaming media player. Let's hope, if it does see the light of day, the powers that be at '4oD' have the good sense to add it to UK Roku players as well as the NowTV Box... ARE YOU LISTENING CHANNEL FOUR ?!!

Of course, while all of this excitement was going on, I was also maintaining my contributions to the 2013 Countdown To Hallowe'en by continuing with the daily instalments in my (current) series of posts, to bring you "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku", with the intention of drawing your attention to as much of the horror-themed content available on UK Roku players as possible.

Anyway, let's now press on with details for the current 'Weekly RoundUp' of NEW ADDITIONS to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. This time, there are NINE NEW CHANNELS which have been added during the past seven days. These LATEST ADDITIONS to the Roku UK Channel Store PROVIDED FRESH NEW CONTENT to the News, Weather, Sport, Internet TV, Special Interest plus Religion & Spirituality genres (i.e. categories) on the streaming media player.

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) for each one:-

BBC NEWS...........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]


PLEASE NOTE:- That since the 'BBC News' channel does not (yet) feature in the "Official" Roku USA Channel Store there is no official channel description for the Roku channel available online. Consequently, the link above will (currently) redirect you to the Official Website for BBC News where you will find all of the information relevant to the national news broadcaster. Those wishing to connect with the 'BBC News' channel can do so easily, via their Official Twitter Feed: @bbcnews or else, get social with them through: BBC News (Facebook). Additionally, and no doubt due (again) to the fact that the 'BBC News' channel has not yet been added to the "Official" Roku USA Channel Store, there is no 'Roku Guide' review available. If this changes, I will add a link to this post.

SALVATION ONLINE.............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

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

V NETWORK.........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

HIPMEDIA LITE.....................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

HIPMEDIA...........................................COST: £3.99 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

GEORGETOWN EVERYWHERE............................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

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

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

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So, whether it's the work of indie music artists, or indie film-makers, plus assorted entrepreneurs and speakers to community organizations, or the facility to stream media files from your HipServ-based NAS device (such as Seagate GoFlex, Netgear Stora, Verbatim Mediashare, Roxio Streamer & LaCie Internet Space) or (perhaps) the top news stories of the day (updated 24 hours a day) with coverage of world events in text format, or natural home remedies for health & beauty, religious programming, satire, spoofs, funny home videos, stunts, pranks and jokes, classic movies, travel, cooking & talk shows, as well as general entertainment, motivation & success programming (in both Vietnamese & English), or even the latest news and events from Georgetown University in the USA, we've pretty much got all those covered with these NEW ADDITIONS to the Roku UK Channel Store.

Anyway, like it or not, that is your lot for this week and, whilst it doesn't quite the match-up to the eleven 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 nine channels outlined above. If not, then you'll 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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Meanwhile, for my last ten '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 you may recall, have (so far) totally failed to live up to their full potential. Likewise, the original promise from NowTV of "more great content" with "more apps being continually added", is yet to be adhered to, since there still hasn't been a single extra new channel added since the launch of the product. As previously, while time moves on so (it seems) does the tumbleweed...

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

PHOTO SOURCE: justjoep.blogspot.com

Here we see the tumbleweed headed for the garage (or, perhaps, out of it) no doubt believing that there was a "garage sale" happening at the time. Maybe we should call it a "car boot sale" for the benefit of readers in the UK?!! Either way, it must be one smart ball of tumbleweed because that's exactly the kind of place you're likely to find the NowTV Box, before too long, if NowTV keep refusing to honour their promise at launch and fail to support their product by adding new channels to the lineup. Granted, the suggestion of a '4oD' channel on the horizon did peak my interest somewhat, but mainly for the possibility that it could be added to UK Roku players, rather than making the NowTV Box any more appealing or useful than it currently is, in it's own right. Still... if it ever actually happens, it will at least mark a step in the right direction for the product which, up 'til now, has been merely treading water. In fact, all the NowTV Box has achieved is to prove to me (beyond a doubt) that a Roku LT by any other name IS NOT A ROKU LT !! In other words.... BUYER BEWARE !!

As a consequence, it's likely to be of no surprise to anyone that, as with EVERY WEEK since it was launched, there has (yet again) been literally NO ACTION in terms of NEW ADDITIONS to the channel selection on the NowTV Box. What this means is that, over the course of a week, NowTV have once more managed to produce a (NOT SO) GRAND TOTAL of absolutely 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 NINE EXTRA CHANNELS during that same period of time. To keep things in perspective, in the twelve weeks since the launch of the NowTV Box, there has been a total of ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR EXTRA CHANNELS added to the "Official" Roku Channel Store on UK Roku players, as compared with ZERO EXTRA CHANNELS being added to the Roku Channel Store on the streaming player from NowTV. That, surely, must tell you something ?!!!

It would also appear that Now TV have chosen to ignore my comments about the 'EWTN Europe' channel which, if you recall, had gone AWOL from the "Religion & Spirituality" genre (i.e. category) in the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. If you remember, it was still there BUT (for some strange reason) it was only listed among the "New" channels and not in any of the recognised channel store categories. Their failure to move it back to the "Religion & Spirituality" genre (where it belongs) suggests that it really could be part of an attempt by NowTV to re-populate their flagging "New" channel category which, as I said before, had dwindled to a count of three and even now has just four channels... NONE OF WHICH are genuinely "New"!! Sadly, all that does is show us that even their efforts to disguise the fact that THEY HAVEN'T ADDED ANY CHANNELS to the NowTV Box since it was first launched are seriously futile. Do they really think that no-one will have noticed how these (supposedly) "New" channels have been featured on the NowTV Box since day one ?!!

Now, I really don't mean to keep sounding like a scratched record but, if the NowTV Box is going to succeed, they really need to start showing us that it is indeed "Powered by Sky" and ensure that the device lives up to it's moniker by adding those long-promised "must-see shows" from Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Arts and Sky Living "NOW" and not "later this year". As I've said in previous weeks... if this lack of support for the NowTV Box continues, it will eventually be branded as the "NO TV BOX" with people becoming more & more disillusioned at the unfulfilled promise of the device & the associated lack of channel choice available on it. Seriously, folks, do yourselves a BIG FAVOUR and spend the extra twenty quid or so to get a Roku LT that will allow you to ACCESS NETFLIX and many other film & tv channels (as well as NowTV) and which, by November, will most likely give you AN EXTRA 600 CHANNELS TO CHOOSE FROM than the NowTV Box. Given that the Roku LT is a mere ten channels away from achieving that figure, as I write, and with an average of more than one new channel per day being added... I'd say that's less of a possibility & more an inevitability !!

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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 !!