2017–2019: Launch in North America The Roku Channel was launched in September 2017 as a free, ad-supported streaming television service ("FAST"), available to viewers in the U.S. Roku's CEO
Anthony Wood stated in the same month that the channel was a "way for content owners to publish their content on Roku without writing an app". By August 2018, the channel had expanded to Canada, In August 2018, The Roku Channel was also reported to have signed content licensing deals with
Sony Pictures,
Warner Bros.,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Lionsgate,
Disney and
Paramount Pictures. Additionally, the service offered content from existing partners including American Classics,
FilmRise, Nosey,
OVGuide,
Popcornflix,
Vidmark and YuYu.
2020–2023: Service expansion April 2020 saw the launch of The Roku Channel in the UK. In January 2021, Roku announced that it had acquired the
original content library of the defunct mobile video service
Quibi for an undisclosed amount, reported to be around $100 million, for availability on The Roku Channel. The content was rebranded as
Roku Originals. In August 2021, The Roku Channel was reported to add
CBC,
AccuWeather Now,
FilmRise True Crime,
Haunt TV and
IGN for free streaming. By March 2022, The Roku Channel included news services such as
ABC News,
Bloomberg,
Cheddar,
NBC News,
Newsy,
People TV,
Reuters,
USA Today,
WeatherNation and
Yahoo Finance, all available for free streaming. In October 2022, The Roku Channel was launched in Mexico. According to
Deadline Hollywood, October 2022 also saw Charlie Collier, previously the CEO of
Fox Entertainment, join Roku as the President of Roku Media to manage ad platform business and content for The Roku Channel and more. Later, in December 2022, Roku announced that it would sign an agreement with the Miss Universe Organization to broadcast the
70th (2022) and
71st (2023) editions of the
Miss Universe beauty pageant in the United States, making the first time the pageant would broadcast on streaming television, after several years on linear television. By the end of 2022, The Roku Channel was offering premium subscriptions for over 50 services including
Discovery+,
Paramount+,
MGM+,
Showtime,
Starz,
HBO,
AMC+,
Shudder and
Acorn TV. Moreover, The Roku Channel was reaching U.S. households with a total population of 100 million, in Roku's estimates. The Roku Channel was also reportedly the most popular FAST service in the U.S. in 2021 and 2022. In February 2023,
BGR reported that Roku announced the addition of nearly 2000 hours of on-demand content to The Roku Channel. This content included offerings from HBO,
HBO Max,
Discovery Channel,
HGTV,
Food Network,
TLC,
Warner Bros. Pictures and
Warner Bros. Television. Moreover, this content would be available to stream for free. In August 2023, it was reported that The Roku Channel was adding several NBCUniversal services as free, ad-supported options. These included
NBC News Now,
Dateline,
Today All Day, NBC local stations, regional
Telemundo news channels,
Universal Action,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents,
Sky News International,
The Rotten Tomatoes Channel and a Universal Crime channel. Further, The Roku Channel became available on
Google TV and other
Android TV OS devices, in addition to Roku-branded streaming devices and smart TVs,
Amazon Fire TVs,
Apple TV and Samsung smart TVs. Moreover, a report by
Variety in September 2023 stated that The Roku Channel offered more than 80,000 TV shows and movies and access to premium content. Variety also reported that U.S. FAST services, including Roku,
Pluto TV, Samsung SmartTV+ and Vizio WatchFree+, had "commercial loads" of about 8 to 9 minutes per hour, compared to 15 to 17 minutes per hour on
cable TV.
2024–present: Viewership growth In January 2024, Roku announced an agreement with
Formula E to air all but 5 races per year. Roku was slated to also air
Recharge, a studio program aired 24 hours after every race. According to
The Wrap in February 2024, The Roku Channel offered over 400 free live linear TV channels and distributed content from over 250 partners. Roku also announced an agreement with NBA to air more than 40
NBA G League games during the 2024–25 season. In May 2024, The Roku Channel secured a multiyear rights agreement with
Major League Baseball to stream live the league's
Sunday Leadoff games for free. In June 2024, measurement firm
Comscore found The Roku Channel to be the most popular among all free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) streaming services in the U.S. In the same month,
Lifewire stated that The Roku Channel could be watched using the Roku mobile app, available for both
iOS and
Android, and allowed switching among free content, premium subscription services and live TV. In February 2025, Roku announced it was launching a women's sports studio show, ''Women's Sports Now'', featuring
Renee Montgomery,
Sarah Tiana and
Suzy Shuster. In May 2025, Roku announced that The Roku Sports Channel would now stream on
Samsung TV Plus as well. The Roku Channel was the most watched U.S. based FAST service in November 2024, as per
Nielsen's TV viewership data. It reached households representing nearly 145 million people by the end of 2024, in Roku's estimates. According to Nielsen in July 2025, the channel ranked as the fifth most-watched streaming service, trailing
YouTube,
Netflix,
Disney-owned services and
Amazon Prime Video. The service accounted for over 6% of all U.S. TV streaming time in September 2025. ==Content==