Your Roku just picked up a no-cost upgrade: nine new channels in The Roku Channel’s Live TV lineup. Because these additions live inside the free The Roku Channel app, you don’t need a Roku TV or even Roku hardware to watch. It’s a straightforward boost to the free, cable-like experience that could help trim your monthly streaming bill.
What Changed: Nine New Channels Added to Roku Live TV
The Roku Channel’s Live TV section now includes nine more always-on, ad-supported channels. Like traditional cable, you drop into what’s playing rather than browsing a deep on-demand menu, and you can’t fast-forward. The appeal is simplicity: lean back, pick a genre or familiar show feed, and let it run.
Roku has been steadily padding this free lineup. Recently, it added 24/7 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Overtime for nonstop sports content. The new batch continues that momentum, expanding a grid that already spans classic TV, movies, reality, news, weather, true crime, and more. With hundreds of free channels plus a large on-demand library, the service now resembles a full cable replacement for viewers who don’t need the latest originals every night.
How to Watch the New Free Channels on The Roku Channel
Open The Roku Channel app, select Live TV from the left rail, and scroll the guide. If you know what you’re after, use search to jump straight to a channel by name. After you’ve tuned in once, you’ll find it faster via Recently Watched, and you can add favorites to pin them near the top of the guide. You don’t need a subscription or credit card; signing in with a free Roku account simply syncs favorites across devices.
No Roku TV is required. The Roku Channel is available on Roku streaming players and Roku TVs, but also on many Samsung smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, iOS and Android mobile apps, and via web browsers. That means you can watch on a living-room set, your phone, or a laptop without buying new hardware.
Why this free Roku Live TV expansion could save you money
If you often stream “background” TV—game shows, comfort sitcoms, classic dramas, or rolling news—free live channels can replace a paid service you rarely open. Dropping even one $9.99 subscription saves about $120 a year; pause two and you’re keeping roughly $240 in your pocket. The trade-off is ads and a scheduled feed, but the experience mirrors cable’s familiar cadence without the monthly bill.
There’s also a smarter way to manage the churn cycle. Research firms like Antenna have tracked elevated turnover across paid video apps as viewers rotate for specific shows. A practical strategy is to keep one or two “must-have” subscriptions active, rotate others only when new seasons land, and lean on Roku’s free lineup the rest of the time so your TV never feels empty.
FAST services are having a moment with streaming viewers
Free ad-supported streaming TV—often called FAST—is one of the brightest spots in the streaming business. Nielsen’s The Gauge has shown streaming taking a larger share of overall TV time, with ad-supported platforms like Tubi and Pluto TV setting usage records. Analysts at Omdia and Insider Intelligence expect FAST to continue double-digit growth as advertisers follow viewers to connected TVs and households look to cut costs.
Roku sits squarely in this shift. The more people watch The Roku Channel, the more ad revenue helps fund additional free content and channel deals. That flywheel benefits viewers with an expanding lineup—like today’s nine-channel bump—without adding to monthly expenses.
Pro tips to get more from Roku Live TV and the guide
- Curate your guide: mark Favorites to create a quick-access row and hide channels you never watch.
- Use Save List in The Roku Channel to track on-demand movies and series you plan to sample later.
- Turn on parental controls and a PIN to manage kid access.
- If you have a voice-enabled Roku remote, try voice search to jump between live channels faster.
Own a Roku TV? Plug in an over-the-air antenna to merge local broadcast stations with the Live TV guide for a single, unified grid. It’s optional—this free upgrade works anywhere The Roku Channel app does—but it’s a powerful combo for cord-cutters who still want local news and sports.
The bottom line: nine new free channels further strengthen Roku’s lean-back Live TV experience. With broad device support and zero cost, it’s an easy win for anyone trying to watch more while paying less.