Roku (system, channel, channels, signal)

[Coldjensens]

I bought a ROKU so we would have a way to allow my Dad to watch news and sports while he is living with us while recovering his health. I am struggling to figure out how to install a sports channel that will allow him to watch college basketball or football and which is free if possible. Also is there a decent news channel out there anywhere? Most of what I find is just a bunch of people who know very little making really poorly reasons arguments to support heir opinions; or patently false/spun BS favoring one side to the other. It there a basic news channel that will simply report what is going on? .


My problem is not that I cannot find a sports or new channel, but that I find hundreds and, so far none that provide the basic broadcasts I am looking for.

[irman]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

My problem is not that I cannot find a sports or new channel, but that I find hundreds and, so far none that provide the basic broadcasts I am looking for.

About the only thing, you can do is what you have been doing and maybe you will find one 'free' channel that suits your needs.

The only other solution is to 'subscribe' to a sports or news channel.

[Peregrine]

I can't believe you did no research before you bought the Roku.

You aren't getting any mainline sports for free.
Sign up for YouTubeTV or Vue or Sling. You can do month to month and it's not that expensive. Spend a few bucks on the old man and hook him up.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

My problem is not that I cannot find a sports or new channel, but that I find hundreds and, so far none that provide the basic broadcasts I am looking for.

What you are calling basic broadcasts are fairly valuable media franchises.

You are not going to get Sports for free. The cheapest option is Sling Orange for $25 that will give you a selection including ESPN. You can get 7 days for free, but there probably is a coupon with your Roku that gives you 30 days for free.
https://www.sling.com/

Sling Blue gets you CNN also. But the only major English news channel you can get for free is BBC World News.

[Peregrine]

Is he in the garage or something? Why does he not have access to what you watch? What do you watch? Do you have cable TV in the rest of the house? If so there may be an app from your cable company.

[MikeBear]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

I bought a ROKU so we would have a way to allow my Dad to watch news and sports while he is living with us while recovering his health. I am struggling to figure out how to install a sports channel that will allow him to watch college basketball or football and which is free if possible. Also is there a decent news channel out there anywhere? Most of what I find is just a bunch of people who know very little making really poorly reasons arguments to support heir opinions; or patently false/spun BS favoring one side to the other. It there a basic news channel that will simply report what is going on? .


My problem is not that I cannot find a sports or new channel, but that I find hundreds and, so far none that provide the basic broadcasts I am looking for.

He needs this channel, it's all FREE, and plenty of free sports. It's almost like having paid cable tv: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/74519/pluto-tv

[Coldjensens]

We do not watch Tv. We sometimes watch Netflix and that is about it.

I did research Roku some before we bought it. It is not a major purchase and I was not going to spend hours on it. Some sites referenced free sports channels available. Problem is they are things like women's high school volleyball. or snowmobile motorcycle things gong down mountains. There was another sports channel that had a complex sign up process and then still did not work. I think he mostly wants the local NBC, CBS ABC and Fox broadcasts for sports. I am not sure what news he would want to watch, it is all garbage IMO, probably local. Some systems siad they offer local broadcasts, but when I signed up I found they had about 500 channels and I cannot find anything.

Dad has to stay on the first floor until he gets strength back to climb stairs (at which time he will likely go home. We only have an old projection TV on that floor. We use it to watch DVD and old VHS movies. We cannot pickup broadcast TV as far as I know. We have not really tried recently because we have no interest in TV and when the kids were younger, we had cable.

Roku is not worthless as we can use it to put on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime movies and shows, but that does nto interest Dad.

[MikeBear]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

We do not watch Tv. We sometimes watch Netflix and that is about it.

I did research Roku some before we bought it. It is not a major purchase and I was not going to spend hours on it. Some sites referenced free sports channels available. Problem is they are things like women's high school volleyball. or snowmobile motorcycle things gong down mountains. There was another sports channel that had a complex sign up process and then still did not work. I think he mostly wants the local NBC, CBS ABC and Fox broadcasts for sports. I am not sure what news he would want to watch, it is all garbage IMO, probably local. Some systems siad they offer local broadcasts, but when I signed up I found they had about 500 channels and I cannot find anything.

Dad has to stay on the first floor until he gets strength back to climb stairs (at which time he will likely go home. We only have an old projection TV on that floor. We use it to watch DVD and old VHS movies. We cannot pickup broadcast TV as far as I know. We have not really tried recently because we have no interest in TV and when the kids were younger, we had cable.

Roku is not worthless as we can use it to put on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime movies and shows, but that does nto interest Dad.

Did you see my post above? I even gave the link to the channel in the Roku channel store. Load Pluto Tv on his Roku. It has everything he could possibly want to watch, including FREE SPORTS. It also has a guide, like cable tv.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by MikeBear

Did you see my post above? I even gave the link to the channel in the Roku channel store. Load Pluto Tv on his Roku. It has everything he could possibly want to watch, including FREE SPORTS. It also has a guide, like cable tv.

Pluto TV the one I tried. There are about 500 channels so I could not find basics. Maybe with a few hours of exploring.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Pluto TV the one I tried. There are about 500 channels so I could not find basics. Maybe with a few hours of exploring.

I think there may be a problem with your expectations.

In theory, all local broadcast stations in a DESIGNATED MARKET AREA (DMA) should be available to you for the cost of an antenna. That would include the Big 4 (CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX) and some of the minor networks like CW, ION, MyNetworkTV. In addition, an antenna should pick up the secondary channels, the diginets, like RetroTV, ThisTV, Heroes and Icons, Laff TV, etc. Diginets show old shows in standard definition resolution. The reality is antennas can be cumbersome to set up and they don't work everywhere because of interference from hills, trees, and buildings.

For people who didn't want to mess with antennas, cable companies used to have what was normally called "lifeline" cable which was restricted to these "over the air" broadcast stations plus public service channels.

When you purchase a Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, or some other streaming box I think most people expect that at a minimum they will work similar to an antenna and get "the basics" as you refer to them.

About 6 years ago Aereo, a television streaming service, would capture broadcast signals on miniature antennas and deliver them to subscribers for a small fee (I think about $6 to $8 a month). Aereo based their legal argument on cases from earlier decades that defended VCRs and subscription Digital Video Recorder services. They argued that each subscriber was assigned their own antenna and using the internet was theoretically a more complex version of running a cable through your home from the antenna to the television. Aereo said they shouldn't have to pay royalties since they were just doing a high tech version of what people had done since the 1940s in their own home. The Supreme Court ruled against Aereo's legal interpretation in 2014, and said they violated copyright laws.

This kind of one-stop shopping for a modest fee is not available. Instead you are stuck with sorting through "free services" on Pluto. But the easiest inexpensive option is to choose one of two $25 services offered by Sling TV. The orange option includes Disney channels including ESPN, and the blue option includes more entertainment channels and different sports channels.

A more complete selection of channels is available for $40-$45.

Article on broadcast tv via a streaming service.
https://www.cnet.com/news/are-your-l...v-service-yet/