Hi, everyone !!
If you happen to follow the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels to this blog, then you will already be aware that the single most significant piece of Roku-related news (from a UK perspective) was the addition of 'FreeSports' to the existing selection of sixty-plus FREE live broadcast channels available through the Roku channel from 'TVPlayer' on UK Roku devices. Here's a screenshot image of the tweet I shared earlier this week, when I first broke the news via social media:-
The addition of 'FreeSports' to the 'TVPlayer' service means that the only dedicated UK free-to-air (FTA) sports channel will now be available completely free on Roku streaming devices in UK. The ever growing line-up of sports programming on 'FreeSports' includes: NHL Ice Hockey, Football, Rugby League, British Wrestling, British Basketball, Tennis, Motorsports, MMA, Cricket, Speedway and lots more world class action. Previously only available to watch in UK homes through Freeview, Sky, Freesat, TalkTalk, and BT, the range of platforms has (thanks to the 'TVPlayer' partnership) been extended to include desktops, plus mobiles / tablets, as well as Roku (and other streaming devices).
To give you some idea of what is available to watch on 'FreeSports' via 'TVPlayer' for Roku devices in UK, here is a rough guide to some (though, by no means all) of the free sports coverage on offer:-
Basketball
- British Basketball League - weekly live coverage from the BBL incl. Cup Final, Trophy Finals, and Playoff Final from the O2
- ACB Basketball - Copa Del Rey Finals series
Football
- Portuguese Primeira Liga - 2 games a week
- Belgian Jupiler Pro League - 3 games a week
- Spanish La Liga 2 - 1 game a week
- Spanish La Liga - game highlights
- Dortmund TV - 1 hour weekly game highlights
- AC Milan TV - full games from Serie A and Europa League
Motorsport
- Australian V8 Supercars - live coverage
- NASCAR Xfinity series - live coverage
- NASCAR Truck series - live coverage
- Swedish Speedway - live coverage
- Polish Speedway
- Monster Jam - highlights
- Arena Cross - highlights
- Super Cross - highlights
- FIM Trial GP - highlights
- FIM Enduro GP - highlights
- Super Enduro World Championship - highlights
- Formula Drift - highlights
- On the Limit Sport magazine show
Ice Hockey
- National Hockey League (NHL) - 3 live games a week that can’t be shown on Premier Sports.
- International Ice Hockey Federation - 20 live games from Championships and 5 GB games from Div1A
- Champions Hockey League - 20 live games
- Swedish Hockey League - 2 live games a week
- Spengler Cup - live coverage of semi-finals and final
Rugby League
- Rugby AM
- Rugby League Backchat
- Live Coverage - SEE EXTRA INFO FOR 'NCL' RUGBY LEAGUE COVERAGE (BELOW)
MMA
- Cage Warriors UK
- One Championship ASIA
- Glory Kickboxing
- IMMAF MMA - highlights
Boxing
- FreeSports Fight Nights - Monthly live British Boxing
Wrestling
- 5 Star Championship - weekly live coverage (on Thursday nights) from UK arenas.
Other Sports
- ATP 250 Tennis - coverage of semi-finals and finals of 20+ events throughout the year
- Red Bull Air Races - live coverage plus highlights
- New York, Berlin and Melbourne Marathons
- Spanish Basketball League and Copa Del Rey final stages
- FEI Nations Cup
- FIS Magazine Show
- Transworld Sport
- Drone Champions League
- Weight Lifting World Championships
- Pro Bull Riding
- Golfing World
- Crankworx World Tour
Additional information on LIVE COVERAGE of the Kingstone Press National Conference League (NCL) for which 'FreeSports' has recently secured broadcasting rights. The agreement will see over thirty games from the premier community rugby league competition broadcast live throughout the 2018 season, with live games broadcast each Saturday, as follows:-
The eagle-eyed among you will probably have spotted that there is one game in the above fixture list which takes place on a Wednesday (29th August 2018)... the reason being: that it's actually part of the two ‘War of the Roses’ events, both staged by NCL as preludes to their ‘RugbyAM Legends’ games (also being broadcast live), whereas the others are regular Saturday fixtures. The good news for fans of rugby league is... they will all be shown by 'FreeSports' via 'TVPlayer' on UK Roku devices, as well as other platforms, and this will bring much-needed extra publicity to the grass roots of the sport over-and-above what they were previously getting via over-the-air (OTA) 'Freeview' broadcasts!
In terms of day-to-day programming from 'FreeSports', you can view their 'Full TV Schedule' which covers a whole month ahead of the current date, for any given day, via the main page of the official website. Just scroll down about half way, until you see a heading marked 'TV Schedule' with a string of dates beneath it. Then simply scroll through the list of dates to find the one you want and click on it to be shown an itemised viewing schedule for "What's On" that day! ;-) :-)
There is also an option to view only 'Live Events' in the upcoming seven days, which can be accessed by clicking on the relevant link, marked 'Live Events', found just above the 'TV Schedule' heading. If you have a Twitter account, you can follow their official Twitter Feed: @FreeSportsUK for regular updates plus details of any changes to their scheduled programming. Alternatively, if you prefer, they can also be contacted via their official FB Page: FreeSports UK TV (Facebook) where I am sure they will be only too pleased to connect with you and hear your thoughts on all the great free sports! :-)
Anyway, with no other major Roku-related (or Roku-specific) news to share with you this week, I'm now going to turn my attention to bringing you details for all the latest new Roku channels (apps) which were released during the seven days since my last 'Weekly RoundUp' post was published! :-)
Firstly, though, I'd just like to mention (on a not entirely un-related note) that I have now added links to most (though, still not all) of the 'Roku Guide' reviews that were previously "missing" for many of the new Roku channels released in the last few weeks... so, if you'd like to see an independent appraisal of those, be sure to check-out my post from last week (see link above), which (itself) contains a link to the previous week's post (and so-on, and so-forth), for details of where to find them. In terms of any remaining "missing" links to some of those past 'Roku Guide' reviews, I'm going to leave it for each of you to access the details for those channels yourselves. Should anyone still be unaware, as of four weeks ago, you can now choose to do that either via the built-in channel store on Roku devices or by following the links provided in each post to the relevant channel description(s) from the Roku Web Channel Store. Meanwhile, once those "missing" reviews have been published by 'Roku Guide', I will (as I have done previously) ensure that I add the relevant links to each post. Apologies (as always) for any inconvenience that may be caused by the absence of active links to an independent review for those apps but, like I say, it's entirely out of my hands. Fortunately for all of us, there are no "missing" links to 'Roku Guide' reviews for the channels released this week! ;-) :-)
Speaking of which... the list of channels below will help you identify the latest new apps that have been added to Roku devices in the UK. Other websites offering Roku channel listings will base their contents on the Roku USA Channel Store, which means they also include apps that are unavailable to UK Roku users. So, like I've said before... if you really want to know what's available channel-wise, for owners of Roku devices in the UK, you need to be reading this blog each and every week! ;-) :-)
With twice the number of active links to check out, not just for this week... but each and every post that has been previously published as part of my 'Weekly RoundUp' series over the last five years, there's a *lot* of reading to catch-up on. So, without further ado, here's my 'Weekly RoundUp' of all new Roku channels released between 4th March 2018 and 10th March 2018:-
ADVENTURE SPORTS NETWORK......................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SPORTS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
WORDPRESS GURU..............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SCI & TECH" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
70's SUMMER DRIVE-IN CINEMA V1.....COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "FILM & TV" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
GTA GAMING - GRAND THEFT AUTO................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SPECIAL INTEREST" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
LETS PLAY POKEMON...........................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "KIDS & FAMILY" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
POLITICIZER - POLITICS & NEWS.......................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "NEWS & WEATHER" in Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
ANALOG CLOCK..............................COST: £1.49 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SCREENSAVERS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
ASTEROID SHOOTER FREE................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "GAMES" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
LET'S PLAY ROBLOX.............................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "KIDS & FAMILY" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
CHESS SCREENSAVER.....................................COST: $1.99 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "SCREENSAVERS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN RELEASED***
PLEASE NOTE:- That, although this 'Chess Screensaver' channel is FREE-TO-ADD to your Roku device(s), the description from the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store, as well as the one from the web channel store, states it "May require additional fees" and what that means is anyone who installs the channel should be aware that there is a MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION fee of $1.99 PER MONTH associated with the use of this screensaver. That said, if you are a massive chess fan, you can shave a little off that cost by going for the ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION option at $8.99 PER YEAR so that you can more fully appreciate the 20,000+ games from some of the truly great grand masters of chess (incl. Bobby Fisher, Magnus Carlsen, Gary Kasparov, plus several others). Here is a screenshot image taken from the channel description for this screensaver channel to highlight the features/pricing:-
HINT: Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!