Forum Discussion

Nancy0614's avatar
Nancy0614
Channel Surfer
9 months ago
Solved

Requesting CSPAN app on Roku TV

Please add CSPAN to Roku TV.  I can’t believe you don’t offer it.   People should be able to watch what is going on during congressional hearings and important congressional testimony.   Especially i...
app availability
  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    4 months ago

    Roku always has been a streaming platform. They never developed an app for any 3rd party provider, which is what C-SPAN is. C-SPAN was created by the cable companies, and only cable and satellite providers can provide it. It is not available for anyone who does not subscribe to some sort of TV provider. There's a handful of streaming TV providers that include C-SPAN, and these providers are available on Roku devices. There's a number of them, including YouTube TV, Fubo, Sling TV, Hulu, Philo and DirecTV offers a streaming only subscription. C-SPAN is available on their website, but you must have a TV subscription with a TV provider to view it. There is no way to watch C-SPAN for free. It has never been available on broadcast TV. 

MountianMa301's avatar
MountianMa301
Newbie
4 months ago

I have emailed C-SPAN my regarding my discontent and requesting streaming availability. Both of you 'guys' need to GET TOGETHER to make sure you have your legal broadcast licensing, and they get streaming availability. Take that to the Roku Sadhu.

JWS9518's avatar
JWS9518
Roku Guru
4 months ago

I don't work for Roku, I am just a user like you.  Roku has no control over what channels have a Roku app.  That is up to the owner of C-span.

  • MountianMa301's avatar
    MountianMa301
    Newbie
    4 months ago

    ? I don't understand how roku lost proprietary control of their tv software that allows or prevents apps from being available.

    • StreamerUser's avatar
      StreamerUser
      Roku Guru
      4 months ago

      Roku has not "lost proprietary control of their TV software" as they provide/update/manage both RokuOS and their own "live" TV streaming/services & content (e.g. The Roku Channel or Live TV apps).

      Keep in mind C-SPAN is a non-profit group made up of constituent cable & satellite TV providers, of which Roku isnt (and nor are other OTT providers like Google's YouTube TV & Disney's Hulu+ Live TV which also dont carry C-SPAN) - each of these would have to pay license fees to carry C-SPAN within their respective app/services.

      However Roku doesnt code third-party apps (e.g. a potential C-SPAN app) nor provide third-party app content (e.g. congressional coverage within a C-SPAN app) - this is entirely up to the third-party app/service provider (e.g. C-SPAN).

      Again you need to contact C-SPAN about providing a RokuOS app (as they provide an Android & iOS app) - they would have to provide and manage it and (access to) its content, which of course requires TV provider (C-SPAN constituent members/licensees) login to access Live TV.

      Ultimately you seem to be demanding/asking for 2 unrelated things:

      1. A C-SPAN app (C-SPAN must provide this, requires TV provider authentication for Live TV -contact C-SPAN about this, more likely to happen)
      2. Roku carriage of C-SPAN channels/content on Roku's Live TV service/app (Roku would have to pay license fees for this, since they are not a cable/satellite provider or member - contact Roku about this, less likely to happen).

       

      The former is far more likely than the latter, since C-SPAN already provides apps for some platforms (Android/iOS)  and would just be expanding their app platform reach;  the latter is far less likely since it requires Roku paying substantial and significant licensing fees (contrary to claims elsewhere), which even Google and Disney arent paying for their respective OTT TV services to gain access to C-SPAN channel/content re-transmission.

      If you want to watch C-SPAN on a Roku device now/today, you are going to have to subscribe to a cable/satellite TV service that has a RokuOS streaming app and access to the C-SPAN channels within it.

    • atc98092's avatar
      atc98092
      Community Streaming Expert
      4 months ago

      Roku always has been a streaming platform. They never developed an app for any 3rd party provider, which is what C-SPAN is. C-SPAN was created by the cable companies, and only cable and satellite providers can provide it. It is not available for anyone who does not subscribe to some sort of TV provider. There's a handful of streaming TV providers that include C-SPAN, and these providers are available on Roku devices. There's a number of them, including YouTube TV, Fubo, Sling TV, Hulu, Philo and DirecTV offers a streaming only subscription. C-SPAN is available on their website, but you must have a TV subscription with a TV provider to view it. There is no way to watch C-SPAN for free. It has never been available on broadcast TV.