Channels & viewing

[VonFisch]

Moneyball had been available free on Roku channel under search for the past 2-3 days so I finally started watching it last night, was more than halfway through, had to rewind a bit to rewatch a part, then it stopped, and then the movie went to "currently unavailable".  Did a search again and now it won't come up on the channel, only for rent or subscription on other channels.

This seems to have happened at least twice before.  What's up with this?  Very irritating.  Now I have to rent it from the library because I'll be darned if I'm going to pay for it. 

[RokuJohnB]

Hi @VonFisch,

Greetings from the Roku Community!

We understand you're unable to watch "Money Ball" on the Roku channel. No worries; we'll be more than happy to assist you. As we try to replicate this issue that you're having, the content that you're trying to watch is available on Netflix, Paramount+, Apple TV, and AMC+. Roku strives to create an amazing entertainment experience for our customers by offering access to thousands of streaming channels. At times, our content providers may choose to remove their channel from our platform at their own request. In other cases, a channel may be removed by us if it violates our terms and conditions. We take reports of piracy or any other unlawful activity very seriously.

For more information, you can review our terms and conditions or reach out to the channel developer directly.

We hope this helps, and please keep us posted if there's anything else that we can do to assist you.

Sincerely,

John

[VonFisch]

Thank you for your reply.  This is not about a channel being removed, this is about a movie becoming unavailable in the middle of watching a movie, specifically on the free Roku Channel.  I do not subscribe to those other streaming channels, I only watch free content without paid subscription.  It is ridiculous that you removed Moneyball while it was being watched.  Was it scheduled to be removed then or what?  Did you discover someone was watching a movie that should not have been free to view or what?  Why was it removed from the Roku channel in the middle of viewing it?

Thank you

[JBot]

I just had the same issue with "Sliders".  I have been watching it for a couple of weeks.  Today, when I went back to finish and episode, it came up as "currently unavailable."  There is no explanation as to why what I was watching two hours prior is now gone.  

Roku, please explain why a show would become unavailable literally in the middle of watching it.

[Anonymous]

@JBot  OK, I'm guessing but, since the month has just changed, it's June now. So, many things will disappear. I understand that can be frustrating. I can't say for sure but it may come back or it may not. Yes, it would be nice if a note was put "expires on (whatever date)" right on the page for playing the show. Just how it is.

[hmamma]

Still I am facing the same issue. Have you find any solution?

[RokuJanadeeK]

Hi Community users!

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

We understand that you're having issues streaming the Roku Channel. We're happy to assess this matter. Could you elaborate more on the issue?

• Could you specify what specific show, episode, or series you were watching before the issue occurred?
• When did the issue start?
• What steps have you taken so far?

Please keep us updated so we can continue assisting.

All the best,
Janadee

[JBot]

My best guess is that now that it is available on Peacock, it won't be available for free on Roku.  Peacock says it expires at the end of June, so I am wondering if it will return to Roku after it is no longer on Peacock.  It would be nice to get a warning instead of just cutting things off in the middle of a show.

[twono7]

I have been watching Punky Brewster on the Roku channel then a few months ago it said unavailable would like to finish watching it 

[Smiles444]

I just experienced this exact same thing.  How FRUSTRATING!  I’ve been watching the pelican brief on Roku for 2 hours.  There are 20 minutes or so left in the movie and at 12:25am CT or so the movie stops and it goes to a Roku screen that says this is no longer available.  Whaaat!?!  

It's hard to believe this could happen.  If a movie can’t finish in the timeframe you have the rights it should not be able to be selected.  But it cut off at such a weird time for that to be the reason.
But who knows.  It’s incredibly frustrating to invest 2 hours in an intense thriller only to miss the ending.  

seriously flawed system.