Channels & viewing

[andyross]

THERE IS NO CONSPIRACY! Roku dropped support for a one-off model with a unique chipset. Most other services still work. It's Disney's greed and cost cutting that they didn't want to spend money supporting a model unsupported by the manufacturer.

[Fedupoftrying1]

It would be nice if Roku actually had the decency to advise us of these changes and what we can do to continue to watch Hulu and Disney+.  Maybe if we all cancelled our subscriptions they would treat us a bit better.   

[atc98092]

@Fedupoftrying1 Your beef is with Disney, not Roku. Disney decided to no longer support the Roku 4. Yes, Roku has also discontinued support for the 4400, but historically channels that worked on support-discontinued devices continued working for years before they finally would no longer work. Disney decided to completely remove support from the 4400, even though the player was/is still perfectly capable of supporting the channel. 

[chainsawz]

Ummm, I am watching Hulu on Ruku right now. 8/26/24

[atc98092]

@chainsawz they are referring specifically to the Roku 4 (model 4400) player, which Disney no longer supports.

[Ishmoo]

I know my Roku is old as dirt. I dug it out of a drawer because my AirTV stopped working. Thing is, I was watching Hulu last night but suddenly now it’s not working. It stopped supporting Hulu sometime TODAY? That’s just weird. 

[Ishmoo]

I was watching Hulu on a Roku4 last night 2/9/25 but sometime today it stopped working. Weird how it was supported yesterday but not today. It seems Hulu CAN support older Rokus when it feels like it. 

[atc98092]

The Roku 4 was officially "decomissioned" more than a year ago. The reason is the 4 used a chipset that no other Roku did before or since. Roku discovered the issues it had were not worth addressing since there was such a small installed base of players, and instead released the Ultra which resolved virtually every shortcoming of the 4. When Roku discontinued support for the Roku 4, many providers did the same. One such provider was Disney, which owns ABC and Hulu. Yours likely worked when you first powered it back up because it hadn't received an update that caused Hulu to stop working. Overnight it updated, and that's why Hulu no longer works. You can blame Roku for ending support I suppose, but the blame for Hulu no longer working was solely the decision of Disney, as they blocked all of their services from working on the Roku 4. They could have allowed it to continue with the existing version of the app, but it was their decision to block it completely. 

[andyross]

Most likely it was using an old version that was still installed. Overnight, it ran updates and it was deleted.

It may seem to have worked, but it's possible something may not work. Disney yanked Roku4 apps a few weeks after Roku ended support.

Apple NEVER supported it as it was out of production when they come out with the AppleTV+ app.

[andyross]

Looks like @atc98092 replied while I was writing my reply!