Roku Adds a Friendlier Non-Certified Channels Warning
After the Mexico debacle, Roku now flashes a warning every time you go to add a Private or Non-Certified Roku channel.
Roku clamped down hard on some private channels when sales of their media streamers were banned after Mexico's largest cable company Cablevisión, received a court order to keep new Roku's from being sold in Mexico because of the widespread use of piracy with channels like Mach TV. Pirates would sell a subscription service to a private channel on Roku which contained a long list of live and on-demand channels for a fraction of the cost of cable TV.
Roku soon after began removing pirate channels that offered pirate content and also began removing users access to both add private channels or the ability to access the Roku developer accounts on an individual Roku. This was done by serial numbers on a user by user basis.
This was because once a pirate channel was removed, often developers just uploaded a new channel using a new private channel code, or they encouraged users to sideload their channel to their developer account which is used for testing and publishing Roku channels and never was meant to be used for watching banned content.
Soon after Mexico pulled Roku media streamers from the shelves, Roku began flashing a new disclaimer message on the screen every time someone went to add a private Roku channel.
Roku private channels have always been a big part of Roku's popularity. Many developers never bothered to take the extra steps to make their channel public. When a channel is made public it must be vetted and approved to be added to the public channel store.
Private channels need no approval and some will contain copyrighted content. When Roku receives notice that a private channel has infringing content they now quickly act to remove this channel.
Not all private channels contain infringing content and some private channel offer some great content on your Roku like the iTunes Podcast channel, or a long list of others which you can add by Code or by links.
This List Has almost 1800 Roku Private Channel Codes
New Friendlier Roku Disclaimer
The first disclaimer was a little strong and somewhat scary and also confusing. Roku recently during a software update has toned down the language on their disclaimer to make it sound a little friendlier, yet still, makes it sound scary enough to those who would knowingly add pirate channels.
Roku's private channel disclaimer also states that some private channels may contain Adult content. Private Adult Roku channels have been on Roku since the beginning and are popular on the Roku platform for many users.
Adult Roku Channels, can't be added from the Roku channel store, they must remain as private Roku channels. This new disclaimer just adds an extra warning to let users know there may be some private channels that contain content some may consider offensive.
It's nice to see Roku taking a somewhat softer tone towards private channels. They must realize private channels play a big part in their platform's popularity. Especially with recent reports of sagging sales numbers with many more Fire TVs and Chromecasts being sold last year than Roku media streamers.
Someone at Roku must have realized they may have overreacted a bit to the Mexico debacle and the old disclaimer was a bit confusing and a little too harsh.
What To Do If You Can't Add Private Channels or Access Your Roku Developer Account
If your Roku is banned from adding private channels, you can try contacting Roku customer support asking them to turn it back on for you. Otherwise, you will need to create a new Roku user account, then hard reset your Roku (instructions are here) finally, unlink your Roku from your old account and link your Roku to your new account.
This may only work for a while if you add a banned Roku channel again. Also at some point, Roku may start banning users from accessing Roku private channels or the Roku developer account by IP addresses as well.
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Use of third-party trademarks on this site is not intended to imply endorsement nor affiliation with respective trademark owners.
We are Not Affiliated with or Endorsed by Roku®, Apple, Google or Other Companies we may write about.
