Forum Discussion

Chris68's avatar
Chris68
Streaming Star
12 months ago

Asian Oriented Entertainment

I posted around a year ago about the removal and also lack of Asian oriented channels and didn't get many replies or feedback. That's a bit sad, but I guess it has nothing to do with any certain problems or issues going on with Roku so I guess it didn't and won't go too far. šŸ˜« Although I'm not really of Asian descent, I love the entertainment they offer and they usually have subtitles. Two days ago, Asian-crush, Kocowa, and Midnight Pulp disappeared from the live TV line up with the likes of New K-Movies, New K-Pop, China On Demand, Bambu and others I may not even remember. There were never that many in the first place. šŸ˜Ŗ

 

The major reason I invested in 9 Roku devices (6 TV's, 2 Boxes and the Roku sound bar) was because of the Roku Live TV Feed featuring great Asian channels, something we never really had access or could enjoy in the west when I was growing up. Yeah, I can add extra apps (and I have) but I'm still old school and prefer that TV guide where I just see whats on and playing and click on it. šŸ˜Š As of today, I count 3 Asian Entertainment channels left with subtitles... Rokuten Viki, CJ Ent, and Hiyah. I don't watch much anime, but I think I have 2 of those left as well. Compared to the Hundreds of English and Spanish(Most with No Subtitles) channels to choose from, it's pretty lacking.

There are many other Asian channels that could be added as well as bringing back the ones that have gone with the wind lately. I'm just ONE Roku customer, and I was planning on purchasing the new 85 inch Roku TV, but I've decided against investing in any more Roku TVs or devices for now. I'm sure there are other Roku customers out there that feel the same even if they don't speak up. In the long run If I have to rely on an app only to watch Asian Entertainment, I guess any streaming device will do.

Please start thinking about your WORLD WIDE audience Roku. šŸ˜Ž

10 Replies

  • tb_atx's avatar
    tb_atx
    Reel Rookie
    12 months ago

    I agree completely with this post. I talked my parents into buying the Roku streaming stick just for the 4 free Korean channels that were all there just a week ago, but now Kocowa and Asian Crush are missing. I only know because my mother called to tell me! 

    I commented on another thread about this recently and the response from support is that they will get this information to the right group that controls the programming for the free Live TV app. Iā€™m guessing itā€™s possible that the channels will return eventually, but itā€™s unfortunate that channels can just mysteriously disappear without warning. I would not have suggested the streaming stick to my parents if I had known this might happen. My mother is an older Korean woman, and having the ā€œold schoolā€ guide for her to use was necessary. Navigating through the Home Screen and trying to find channel icons there and then selecting programs within those is just too convoluted for her. The Live TV guide was ideal and having 4 Korean channels she enjoyed was really nice. 

    I really hope they bring the missing Asian channels back to the Live TV app soon. 

    • Chris68's avatar
      Chris68
      Streaming Star
      12 months ago

      Thanks for your reply and input tb_atx , you seem to have expanded a bit more to clarify what I was trying to say about the Roku Channel ā€œLive TVā€ app with the built in guide so that maybe a few others realize that it's not just about adding extra apps for each channel out there. They were all just offered there in the Roku ā€œLive TVā€ app with a weekly menu. Although I personally miss certain channels, I failed to mention the ease of use for my much older mother who I am the principal caretaker. She can can navigate ALL the channels fairly easy on Roku's "Live TV." Although when a channel she likes disappears, it takes me a couple of days to explain that it wasn't her fault that it vanished. šŸ˜„ The TV's with Roku built in are even easier so I bought her 2 because it's so much more pleasant than trying and failing to teach her about Roku, Firestick and the multitude of apps out there. I just set her TV so that it automatically opens to "Live TV" without going through the Home Screen Menu page. I'm in the same boat as you with our Mother's tb_atx , it's just a generational thing, ā€œold schoolā€ as you said. Thankfully she was familiar with navigating a cable guide when we had those.... I just made Roku perform exactly the same without paying over 300$ a month. šŸ™„

       

      Anyway, I can't find any "publicly available information about how it's determined either as atc98092 mentioned. I don't think it has anything to do with a channel turning into a 100% subscription only issue either because I have a few Apps that include a "Live TV" area offering most or all of the channels that are gone from Roku.... Roku honestly just has the easiest user interface and speed. In any case I just hope eventually those channels return as well as a few others because even though I may have ALL of the apps, sometimes I just want to turn on the TV and go "Old School." šŸ˜

    • atc98092's avatar
      atc98092
      Community Streaming Expert
      12 months ago

      tb_atx I suggest searching for a web site for the providers you mention, and ask them why they have been removed from Roku devices. Since they control access to their content, only they can answer why it's no longer available on Roku. It's always possible that it was done in error, and they can quickly return the content back on Roku devices. 

      • tb_atx's avatar
        tb_atx
        Reel Rookie
        12 months ago

        Thanks for the suggestion.

        But the issue is that although these channels are still available on the Roku platform (you can still search for and add the channel app to your Home Screen) they were also previously showing in the Roku Channel ā€œLive TVā€ app guide, where you can just scroll through the guide and then select and watch whatever is live streaming at the moment. 

        Thatā€™s where they disappeared from. So technically they are still available on Roku, just not in the very convenient live streaming channel guide anymore. Hope that makes sense.

        I would assume that the Live TV channel guide is controlled internally by the Roku dev team, but who knows. Still learning how all this works.

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert
    12 months ago

    Roku does not create channels/apps for 3rd party providers. If you know of any providers of the content you desire, you should contact them and request they create a channel/app for Roku devices. 

    Midnight Pulp is still on my devices. If you're not seeing it in the "Live TV" lineup, then just install the channel for it. I have no clue how the Live TV lineup is determined, so can't say why it's not there if it used to be.

    • Strega2's avatar
      Strega2
      Roku Guru
      12 months ago

      Roku itself is only supported in about 10% of the countries on Earth and in the Asia Pacific region, the only country supported is Australia.  I would assume that once/if Roku is supported in more Asian countries, that more Asian content producers will target them.  Although many of those new channels will surely be geo-restricted to local viewers.