There are a ton of free channels on The Roku Channel to watch, including sports, comedies, dramas, game shows, and more, but lately, I’ve been spending much more time on the news side of things, given everything happening in the world.
Conveniently, Roku’s free streaming service offers a huge variety of news channels, including those from major networks like ABC, CBS, and FOX, and now, Roku is making it easier than ever to find news that is local to you.
In The Roku Channel’s live TV guide, there is now a new dedicated category called “Local News Near You,” which uses your geolocation to find and recommend local news stations relevant to you (via Cord Cutter News).
The channels you see in this section will vary depending on where you live and who owns your local stations, but you can expect to find local affiliates from networks like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC.
So, if you want to quickly see what’s happening in your community, get a quick look at the weather forecast, and view sports highlights, the new “Local News Near You” category will make all that easier to find. Plus, if you’re looking for national news, you can still access it all for free on The Roku Channel in the “News and Opinion” section.
How to easily find news and more for free on The Roku Channel
You can now easily search for specific channels
If you’re looking to check out news for free on The Roku Channel, and all the other FAST (free ad-supported TV) channels it has, all you have to do on your Roku TV, Roku Streaming Stick, or Roku Ultra, is navigate to the Live TV section on the homepage, where you’ll find the option to select and open the Live TV Guide.
Once you’ve done that, the live TV guide will appear on your screen, allowing you to see all the free channels Roku offers. Since there are over 500 channels, it’s quite a long list, which is why Roku categorizes them.
You can switch between all the categories on the left side of your screen. There, you’ll find the new “Local News Near You” section I mentioned earlier, along with other categories based on different genres, such as Entertainment, Sports, Game Shows, Movies, and Music.
Roku also recently added a new search feature to its live TV guide, so now you can just search broadly for whatever you’re looking for and find all the channels relevant to that really quickly. For example, if you’re looking for news, you can just search for “news” now and see all the different news channels available to watch for free.
Along with Roku TVs and devices, The Roku Channel is accessible on other platforms, such as Samsung smart TVs and Fire TV devices. You can also stream it on the web or on your phone with the Roku app, available on iOS and Android.
One thing in particular I really like about The Roku Channel is how it’s always expanding, too. Recently, Roku added over 20 new channels to its lineup, including a bunch of popular game shows like The Price Is Right, Family Feud, and Deal or No Deal. Ahead of the Oscars, Roku also added a new trivia game called Roklue, which has you answering clues to guess what famous show or movie the game is referring to, with the first edition of Roklue “inspired by Hollywood’s biggest award show moments and celebrated films.”
Overall, if you’re looking for local news on The Roku Channel to watch for free, that experience has now become easier thanks to the new dedicated category for it. And if you’re looking for even more free TV, there are a couple of simple ways to find what you’re searching for in Roku’s live TV guide, such as using the categories and the new search function.
