I went & got a ruko to watch abc nbc fox & cbs. For awhile I was able to go into the apps & watch my shows. All of a sudden you have to have a tv provider to watch nbc fox abc. (Since I pay for cbs all access I don't). What I am wondering is if I was to get the roku ultra & connect my internet to it, would I still need a tv provider. I am running mine off wifi now. Since I have centurylink would that work? You can email me at gma.pmcelwain at gmail dot com. Please.
In general, content providers want to be paid and don't really care about things like how your local network is configured. If you have TV through centurylink and that is one of the providers they recognize, then that should work. You should be able to try that right now – ie: connect to one of the channels, go to the provider login, and find Centurylink in the list.