Key Takeaways
- The Roku Channel landed on Google TV as an app last year. Now, Google is integrating it within Google TV’s search and recommendations.
- The Roku Channel joins other streaming apps within Google TV’s search recommendations, including the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, and more.
- The Roku Channel is completely free of cost, complementing Google’s own curated FAST channel offerings, which the tech giant recently renamed to Google TV Freeplay.
Popular streaming platform and smart TV operating system, Google TV, is a one-stop-shop for all your content needs with a trove of free channels, curated recommendations, options to create watchlists, easy access to almost all popular streaming apps, and a lot more.
The platform is now further expanding its content offering by integrating The Roku Channel into its search and recommendation tools.
Offering users seamless access to a wide range of free content and making it easier to discover new content, The Roku Channel, a platform for free live channels and Roku originals, including movies and TV shows, will now be integrated directly into Google TV search option, first shared by CordCuttersNews, via 9to5Google.
The Roku Channel first arrived on Google TV in July last year, and now it joins the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, and several more within search recommendations.
Toggle on Roku Channel recommendations
It is currently unclear when the integration went live. Regardless, it does align with Google’s strategy to offer more free ad-based viewing options. If you want to see suggestions from The Roku Channel, download the app on your Google TV and head to the Google TV Mobile app → tap on your profile at the top right → Manage services → toggle on The Roku Channel.
The Roku Channel, which is available completely free of cost, complements Google’s own curated FAST channel offerings, which the tech giant recently renamed to Google TV Freeplay.
The new branding, which is now home to over 150 curated FAST channels, replaces a chip that was previously named ‘Google TV’ under the Free built-in channels section, better matching its naming with its offerings. While not a monumental change, the new branding does open the doors for Google to offer more free content or channels from a wider variety of its owned sources, like YouTube.
The Google TV Freeplay branding might also make its way to the Google TV homescreen as an app, though we’re not certain if and when that might happen. The dedicated app isn’t live yet. The Google TV Streamer will be available starting September 24, and we’re expecting the app to make its debut as part of a subsequent update.
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