Channel Issues & Questions

[discodamien]

AAARRRRGHHHhhh! This so so annoying! I did a reset and ROKU added 400 channels! I guess I’m going to spend the whole night deleting them one… by… one….

@henney wrote:

My Roku account has several hundred channels that we had added (and probably should not have).

While I can add them over the web, the only way to delete is on each device, one channel at a time, right?

It would be ideal if we could manage the channel list on the website.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Alan

[RokuDanny-R]

@discodamien

Thanks for the post.

Were the channels added to your Home screen or were they added to a TV guide? With more information we will be able to assist you further.

Thanks,
Danny

[discodamien]

When I did a factory reset, ROKU loaded a little over 400 channels to my ROKU Ultra Home Screen. I did another reset, hoping I could get a blank slate, but it happened again. There’s no way to avoid the on-boarding (right now, at least). It took hours to delete every one of these garbage channels individually (many of them are blocked or expired). The main problem is that this used up so much memory, that the ROKU itself actually was sluggish and unusable until I got most of them deleted. Im not sure if this is a feature or a bug, but it sucks. 

[RokuDanny-R]

@discodamien

Thanks for the update.

This is very strange. Typically channels are not added to a Roku device unless the channels were added to the Roku account (either through device or through the online channel store). Do you have another Roku device that is linked to the same Roku account?

Thanks,
Danny

[discodamien]

No I do not have another Roku, and even if I did it wouldn’t have 400 channels. In the handoff to the Roku Website during setup, you are asked about your interests, and ROKU pre-fills the device with channels that you might like. The first pass it was around 400 (maybe 417?). It took at least 10 minutes to download and install all the apps, even on my high speed connection. I started to delete, but gave up. I did the reset again, and this time chose no subscriptions or interests. I had the same outcome. Since ROKU has no multiple delete function, uninstalling was brutal. 

I suspect that ROKU filled all the available space on my Roku Ultra and my 64 GB SD card. Or maybe ROKU ran out of channels. Many of them were total garbage, expired channels without icons, or ones pulled for DCMA violations. Others were of subjects I have no interests in, like cooking, fashion, crafting or guns. 

[henney]

I am concerned that Roku is not familiar with this topic.

The question is, how best to mass-remove/delete unwanted channels (or apps?) from the Roku without having to go to each channel and delete them manually.  This is time-consuming if you install channels from the Roku website and later decide you don't want them.  It installs on all of your Rokus.

This would be best managed from a website where the customer can select the particular device and edit the channel/app listing.

Otherwise, Roku is a well-thought-out device.

Alan Henney

[gemeni_rising]

Channel management is not user friendly in any way.

I rarely even see channels I added because I have to scroll through 75+ channels that were added by default just  to get to them.

It requires way too much time and effort to manage a channel. 

It takes 4 clicks to select the remove option. Then another 2 clicks to remove it. Then there is the 5 sec wait for it to complete. Removing 75+ unwanted channels this way would be extremely tedious. It feels like punishment.

I takes 5 clicks just to select the move option.Then you have to scroll through the 75+ unwanted channels because there is no move to front option.

This was not very well though out. Customizing and curating a channel list would be  a daunting task.the way this has been designed. This is a huge deterrent to me for discovering many of the channels you do offer because I just do not want to fix this clutter of channels added by default so that my list is manageable.  I just use streaming media players I attached to my roku tv instead.

[hecjt]

Right! Roku is missing a huge opportunity to have somewhat of an advantage over the quickly improving competition. In fact I just bought an LG TV with WebOS and it's just as easy (if not easier) to navigate. Channel management is easier but I find that it is not as snappy.

[jra_r_oku]

Danny, you may be shocked to learn that the disconnect between Roku and the wants and needs of the customer is approaching Comcastic proportions. I've just added a new Roku TV and it has taken two days and roughly two hours with tech support to eventually not get what I wanted anyway. Roku has displaced Comcast in the customer imagination - and not in a good way. It would appear Roku has taken pages from the "old" Comcast playbook - TELL the customer the way it is going to be. Roku is no longer the company I fell in love with.