Roku Developer Program

[virtualCableTV]

Reposted from Roku Streaming Player General Discussion where it was suggested this topic be reposted here...

The documentation is a bit convoluted in this context of what is and what is not "commercial" use.

Our entire business as developers is about providing connected TV services to bars and restaurants where TV sets are on the premises. Is this permissable to deploy Roku devices to such premises such that our localized Public channels are available to members of the general public while they are both in their homes as well as out of home?

[RokuJoel]

Not really allowed by the Rok developer or consumer agreements. Our sister company, BrightSign specializes in this sort of hardware and the programming language is Brightscript so any knowledge you have from Roku Development should be portable to the BrightSign Platform.

-Joel

[virtualCableTV]

"RokuJoel" wrote:
Not really allowed by the Rok developer or consumer agreements. Our sister company, BrightSign specializes in this sort of hardware and the programming language is Brightscript so any knowledge you have from Roku Development should be portable to the BrightSign Platform.
-Joel

Saying "not really" implies not being permitted is official but exceptions can be made. Is this correct?

It seems to me sayng no is hypocritical as Roku supports all kinds of commerical businesses developing channels. Doesn't the federal government and its laws of interstate commerce call this restraint of trade when a company discriminates? And it is also very disturbing to know that Roku supports racism and pornography with their (wink, wink, nod, nod we look the other way) so don't even try to lie about that because Roku is supporting pornography and racist trash by allowing "private" channels on the same device at the same time I and other honest and decent small business persons are being told no we cannot use Roku for honest and decent business?

I have no love for BrightScript itself as I am a C# and Java developer and we will not consider doing business with BrightSign. I want Roku because it has the relationships with other commercial services my customers would want. The same commercial services Roku is apparently using to discriminate. Furthermore, nothing personal but BrightSign is over-priced junk compared to what I can do with Android and other devices we have available to us. Again, nothing personal but strictly business facts which is why BrightSign does not do well in digital signage and has been in and out of bankruptcy protection.

So again, is this official from Roku that my business will not allowed to build public channels and run them on Roku devices on the premises of bars and restaurants or are there exceptions that do not discriminate and support business owners that do not sell racist pornography and other trash Roku is allowing on their devices?

[wzwor]

"RokuJoel" wrote:
Not really allowed by the Rok developer or consumer agreements. Our sister company, BrightSign specializes in this sort of hardware and the programming language is Brightscript so any knowledge you have from Roku Development should be portable to the BrightSign Platform.

-Joel

Is brightscript unique to Roku?

[RokuJoel]

Saying "not really" implies not being permitted is official but exceptions can be made. Is this correct?

You (probably) already signed the agreements, whether you follow on the agreements that you signed is of course up to you.

- Joel

[RokuJoel]

"wzwor" wrote:
Is brightscript unique to Roku?

Unique to Roku and BrightSign, which, by the way, are no longer divisions of the same company, but separate entities. So one flavor of Brightscript may evolve in a different way than the other, but will probably still share a lot of the same attributes.

- Joel

[wzwor]

thank you

[RokuJoel]

@wzwor just to clarify a bit here, it is unlikely (but not completely out of the realm of possibility) that Roku would take action against you for running a Roku device in a bar and grill.

However, if someone was for example, to load MLB or Netflix or any Amazon on that roku device and play the content publicly in the bar or restauraunt, MLB or Amazon or Netflix, or more likely, the owners of the content that those channels contain, can and probably will come after you for it.

- Joel

[wzwor]

I didn't ask the question about the bar (though I have a pool table in my home). I just happened to be reading about Anthony Wood, Replay, and Roku. I saw your post about the two companies using brightscript and figured you might know the genesis of the language. Some say it resembles BASIC and people use the VB IDE to code in brightscript. I was guessing it was something Wood brought from Replay, but cannot document that.

[TheEndless]

"wzwor" wrote:
I didn't ask the question about the bar (though I have a pool table in my home). I just happened to be reading about Anthony Wood, Replay, and Roku. I saw your post about the two companies using brightscript and figured you might know the genesis of the language. Some say it resembles BASIC and people use the VB IDE to code in brightscript. I was guessing it was something Wood brought from Replay, but cannot document that.

As far as I'm aware, BrightScript didn't come about until the first BrightSign was developed. Previous Roku products that had an open SDK (i.e., PhotoBridge) used native C as their development language.

OP, preceding every derogative statement with "nothing personal" only serves to emphasize the fact that it is indeed personal. Furthermore, censorship and copyright enforcement are two entirely different things. I believe the "commercial use" clauses in the TOU/TOS refer to usage of the hardware itself, not the software that runs on it, and are to protect the rights of the content owners/providers. If you own the rights to the content you want to provide via your Roku channels, then there's nothing to stop you from developing channels that provide that content (though, that'd be pretty difficult to do without using BrightScript). Whether you'd be able to use the device itself in a commercial environment is the real issue.