I agree. The hard reality is: this has been requested by enormous numbers of customers -- for years. It seems to be personal with someone in leadership. Their life's mission in life is to prove that we don't need numbers on a remote (nor a narrower list of favorite channels as a shortcut nor continuous up/down channel changing by holding the button down). Now, 1000+ streaming channels were added for you to practice this better way of watching tv channels. (In fairness, going to guide lets you continously scroll up/down channels, and then press enter on the one you want to be on. But, that begs the question: if people want to do that, why not just do it when they hold down that same button while watching a tv? It's like going to the refrigerator for a coke, then going back for a cookie. Why not get it both at the same time? Roku's already validated the heuristic of changing channels continuously. Now it's just a matter of where that activity best fits.).
My point is: There's no reason to expect anything will change (if you were thinking it might).
I think one pragmatic workaround is to spend $30 USD on a "digital tv tuner with hdmi output." (Sometimes called an "antenna tv dvr"). There's quite a few out there. I'm about to buy the three top-rated ones to compare. But, some of the lessor-reviewed boxes could be hidden gems.
You could watch your antenna tv through an HDMI port. You'd have favorites, numeric remote, continuous channel changing. All the traditional stuff. You could also record antenna shows while Downsides would be using two remotes (a universal remote might solve that). Also, the guide is broadcasted info. I don't think it's as accurate or rich as an online guide, which Roku probably uses.).
I can't really say this will be perfect. I haven't seen one yet. But, I had two old DTV converters which worked very nicely/intuitively. I'm anticipating these will feel similar in how to interact with common tv watching habits. Not some bizarre reinvention.
