Channels & viewing

[MaryLOUISE1]

My Discovery + channel isn’t working MOST of the time.  It goes to a black screen when I go to it.

I’m sad about this, because it’s my favorite channel.

[alexa23]

I'm having the same issue on the two Roku sticks that I have had for years, just showed up... also happens with Pluto channel (so far these are the only two I've found, other than Vudu won't get past Fandango logo on launch which is almost as bad as black screen, it's hung ... I tried removing and turning off then reinstall channels.. launch again but same thing "black screen", can't even get to login of channel, what? ... noticed some temporary black screens showing up momentarily in recent weeks and thought weird (that was just annoying) but not to be able to get to a channel is a problem.... this is my first time needing support... what is the way to get help and get this fixed?

[RokuArjiemar]

Hello! @MaryLOUISE1 , @alexa23 ,

A warm welcome from the Roku Community!

We appreciate you reaching out to us. We're pleased to assist.

• Is the issue happening on all content or channels, or is this isolated to one content or channel?
• Is your Roku device up-to-date? Please go to Settings>System>System/Software Update>Check Now.
• Did removing the channel, restarting the player, and then adding the channel back again resolve the issue?
• If possible, video and/or pictures of the issue.

Please keep us posted on what you find out, and we will be happy to continue assisting you further. We look forward to hearing back from you.

Thanks,

Arjiemar

[alexa23]

Thank you for the welcome... I've had a couple of Roku sticks for several years as a casual user and things have been working great so I've never needed tech support... However, recently I could not watch Discovery plus as it would stick at a black screen on launch... I checked my other stick same thing... I downloaded Discovery+ Android app connected to same router and that works fine... So I'm fairly confident this is a Roku server side event... Also, at least one other person reported similar problem (also searching the community forum there were similar reports in July)... I'm fairly tech savy and tried several things before contacting Roku support by chat... they are currently looking into it.... Following are some more details of what started happening in the last 4-5 days (same happens on both sticks):

• Black screen on launch: Discovery+, Pluto
• Stuck on initial logo screen on launch: Tubi, Vudu
• Some channels I watch that have no problem: Peacock, Freevee, ABC, CBS, NBC, YouTube, Xumo
• Software is up-to-date on both sticks.
• Full restarts on both sticks and router
• Removing the channels, restarting the device and reinstalling the channel produced the same symptom: either launch to "black screen" or launch to stick on initial logo screen.
• The only change on my side was about the same time an update to the Roku app on Android came in and I was looking around and saw on my account in red text that my email was not confirmed so I went through the process of confirming it... (not sure how that could effect but I mention it because it was a change on my side)

So that's where I stand... Hoping to hear back from Roku support tomorrow...

[RokuJechealR]

Hi @alexa23,

Thanks for keeping in touch!

We appreciate the troubleshooting steps you've taken to try to resolve this issue. Please be advised that if you are still unable to play videos from one channel, videos from other channels play fine. Contact the channel provider's customer support team to report the issue and get help. Channels on Roku are maintained by the channel developers themselves. In this case, there's likely an issue within that specific channel that needs to be addressed with an update from the channel developer.

You can reach them here.

Please keep us posted if you need further assistance or clarification.

All the best,

Chel

[alexa23]

Channels are working now... I'm back to things working well... where I had been for years without me having to do anything other than contact Roku support and then wait when they said they would look into it... I wondered because three days went by with no word... I just let them know it was still not solved... I kept checking launching the channels and then little by little things started to work again... Roku support just sent an email to me today to say they have an answer... I just sent them back an email reply to let them know all is well... Here is my reply:

"Thank you for getting back to me... I was just planning to get back to you to let you know EVERYTHING IS WORKING BACK TO NORMAL IN THE LAST TWO DAYS without me doing anything... I'm going to assume you flushed something on your s side... Just to give you some feed back on the symptoms and sequences I saw.... What I originally saw as black screens on launch of Discovery plus and Pluto and the hung on logo screens on launch of Tubi, Vudu, and Crackle if all were waited for 5 minutes would show some variation of "unable to reach server"... I didn't do anything because I was sure it was on Roku server side because it was the same symptom on both my Roku sticks and I knew it wasn't the router because I could load the channel app on my tablet connected to same router and had no problem...

Two days after my last contact with you (about 5 days ago) Pluto, Vudu and Crackle started working, without me doing anything (I had to sign in again, and it looked like a new sign-in process then I remember from years ago).. so partially recovered... But, Discovery+ and Tubi still had problems (Discovery+ would launch to black screen, Tubi would launch to stuck logo ... and both would time out after 5 minutes to cannot reach server messages...) ... And then, 2 days later, both Discovery+ and Tubi started working again... So everything is working as before... Please close the case.... Thank you... Happy Holidays!!!...,"

CASE CLOSED.

[RokuJechealR]

Hi @alexa23,

Thanks for keeping us updated!

It is our pleasure to hear that the matter has been resolved. We express our gratitude for your effort and understanding.

Please let us know if there are other related issues that we can further take a look at.

All the best,

Chel