Good movies for free most likely means they are pirated and the developer is not paying the rights holders.
I disagree. There are many other free channels that play copyright protected movies and public domain for free viewing for years, and they're not disappearing from Roku device. Movieland channel will return just like Cinema Box. Let's face it, Movieland and Cinema Box channels are proving to be a favorite of a lot of Roku customers.
They are popular because Americans will do anything for "Free", even if it mean RIPPING OFF other people.
Then why do you feel these channels come and go? I'd love to know why. The have many great films for free that I've been unable to find free elsewhere. Thanks for replying!
Perhaps the actual copyright owners of these movies are secretly supporting Cinema Box now Classico and Movieland TV channels ? My theory is a long shot though. I'll re-iterate this fact again in case others are not accepting of it on the Roku device; there are a lot of other channels;s pirating copyrighted movies of the past and they're not receiving flack from channel haters of Classico and Movieland TV channels.
Odds are, if there really are no ads, these are pirated, and they make a profit trying to sell data based on the demographic and user info they get from you when you access their apps. I doubt that would be enough if they actually paid the proper royalties.
There is a big difference between films/shows in public domain and those that are still copyright protected. There is a number of reasons that films/shows are in public domain depending on when they were made, some are because of the age of the film, some are because the owners never filed copyright protection (common in older films), some were not registered in a timely manner therefore falling to public domain and others are because the copyright owners have let the copyright expire where then it also falls into public domain. That does not include government works that are automatically public domain.
It is highly possible that some of these apps are showing a mix of both public domain and copyright content. It does not mean they are legitimate channels or illegitimate for that matter, if they get proper licensing.
The reason these channels come and go is not necessarily the fault of Roku, although I sure they do some policing of their apps as well, because they can also be held responsible for allowing illegitimate content as well. It is normally because either US law enforcement or a foreign government entity has shut down the channel and/or the copyright holder has issued an injunction/court order to get the channel shut down or has threaten to sue the illegitimate streamer of the material, which results in the server hosting this material being shut down.
Like anything else though, this is like playing the game "Wack a mole" as these channels find another server to host their channel and/or reform under another name. The process then starts over. Users can be held responsible for viewing illegal content. It is rare, but it has happened in the past, where a copyright holder has gone after users, especially blatant offenders, by taking them to court to get civil penalties.
I personally would be concerned with what these channels are doing with your information that they are gathering from users logging into their channels because that is what they are truly after.
Interesting comments JWS9518... a few questions for you is, who is policing this on this forum, or on the sites (MovieLandTv, CinemaBox, Classico ....)? It certainly is not people (like Andy, or you) on this forum through their posts or on the actual hosting sites. If you are, what sources of informaton (databases of licensed rights to host and share, etc.) are accessible to you? If you think I am in jeopard by using tthe shared material, who is policing that? I have a simple userID with Roku, and password ... no license agreements for any of the content (all I use is free content). What laws would I be breaking? I subscribed to a free service over the internet. You wrote: " Users can be held responsible for viewing illegal content" .... what laws have I broken, for which specific content? No warnings were ever given, no disclaimers made (especially on MovielandTv by any of its names). Looking forward to your VERY specific reply/ies. Who knows about me and my life of content crime?
One thing's certain is that Classico and Movieland TV channels are becoming popular and highly prized among viewers. Regardless of the haters of these two unique channels.
