Based on other complaints like this and the dodgy way Roku staff try to avoid a straightforward answer and stumble around with vague references to "licensing", premium channels are stealthily restricting access to content depending on which external provider you happen to sign up through, even though the provider has sold the product/service as if it is exactly the same as the channel's standalone app -- and even though you pay the same amount, or more, than if subscribing directly with the channel!
I tried AMC+ via the Roku Channel for 7 days, then the auto-subscription kicked in at $8.99 per month. When I went to watch a film that was listed by AMC+ as being currently available to steam, it was not listed in the AMC+ Roku Channel app. Finally getting through to Roku support and after many holds, I was told the film was not available "on the AMC+ Roku Channel app" but was available on the "AMC+ app itself."
What???
Roku sells premium channel subscriptions as if they are the exact same product/service that you would get if going directly to the channel. But this is not true, and neither the channel nor the provider are being clear about it.
Meanwhile, I cannot sign into the "AMC+ app itself" -- even though I am paying the AMC+ list price of $8.99 per month to Roku -- because my account is with Roku, not directly with AMC+. There is apparently no way to link or transfer the Roku account to AMC+ directly. I wonder, do they expect us to pay both of them?!
This is both insane and, I am beginning to suspect, a deceptive way to make money. If Roku is knowingly marketing its Roku Channel premium apps as the same, i.e. offering the same content, as premium channels' standalone apps, shame on Roku. And you are not above consumer protection law.
