Roku Developer Program

[supersecretuser]

"Once published, your channel can be added to a Roku account using:
https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelC ... e=TESTCODE"

What if you plan to never actually "publish", as in it remains a private channel?

[RokuKevin]

On the new developer site there is a distinct difference between Public/Private channels and Unpublished/Published states. Previously we muddied these concepts together...

All that "publishing" a private channel means is that a new version of your private channel is available to those that had previously added it via the vanity code. Private channels are never available in the channel store of the Roku box. Private channels are only available via a channel code.

--Kevin

[Anonymous]

There is now a difference between published and public. You can have a published public channel, which would appear in the Channel Store or a published private channel, which would not. Both public and private published channels can use vanity codes. But now you can control which version of your private published channel people see.

[nowhereman]

"RokuKevin" wrote:
On the new developer site there is a distinct difference between Public/Private channels and Unpublished/Published states. Previously we muddied these concepts together...

Honestly, I find the new paradigm to be more muddled than the old way. I'm sure there were reasons and I'm sure they are good ones, but explicitly separating public and private channels seems like an unnecessary extra layer. My personal experience is that when I first publish a channel as private (the old meaning of private) I have no idea at that moment whether I may or may not some day want it to go into the Channel Store. As a result, when I'm using the new site, I will always make my new channels public (new meaning) even though they may never end up in the Channel Store. I don't think I will ever use the new private channel mechanism even though I publish a lot of private (old meaning) channels.

In this new scheme, is there a difference between a published private channel and an unpublished public channel?

[RokuKevin]

On the new developer site, a public channel in the unpublished state is essentially equivalent to a private channel on the previous developer site. You could do your testing using the Roku assigned channel access code and eventually Submit the channel for publishing in the Roku channel store. In fact, you'll notice that all your private channels from the old developer site are by default showing up as unpublished public pkg versions in the new site. This is probably the appropriate choice for channels you are developing.

A private channel on the new developer site gives you the added benefits of you assigning a vanity channel access code that your users can use to add the channel and the ability to publish multiple versions of your channel with different firmware dependencies. An end user will then automatically access the most recent version of your channel that satisfies the firmware dependencies for the firmware of their box. This is all done automatically for the end user once they've added your channel via the vanity channel access code. A private channel is the appropriate choice for channels that will never belong in the channel store. It is a good choice for corporate communication channels, adult content, or other private group content.

--Kevin