PlayOn For Roku? Not Happening, Says Roku

Tweet

For those of you who were hoping that your Roku box would become a full-on network rebroadcasting platform too, I’m sorry to have to fill you in on this but as of now, the PlayOn channel for Roku has been “disallowed” by the folks out at Roku. However, word is that if you’d already installed the PlayOn channel, you will be allowed to keep it, at least for now.

The PlayOn channel, which really does scream “lawsuit bait” (or at the alternative screams “really ambitious and persuasive licensing team”), offers up content from a panoply of sources including Hulu, Spike, BET, Comedy Central, PBS, ESPN and ESPN3, CBS, Nickelodeon, and TBS  content, and in turn charges $39.99 for your first year with PlayOn, then charges $19.99 per year for every year after. This of course sounds like a serious deal that’s almost too good to be true, so it’s not really a surprise that the folks out at Roku would pull the plug.

Word is that Roku decided to cut bait with PlayOn after they realized that neither Roku nor the folks behind the PlayOn channel were actually affiliated with PlayOn, and thus had some potential legal headaches on their hands. This word comes from quotes inside the company rather than official statements, so take it with a grain of salt.

Though considering how many big names were in that PlayOn list, it’s probably a safe call indeed to err on the side of caution. I recognized maybe three Viacom properties off the top of my head, and if you remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer donates to a PBS pledge drive but doesn’t follow through, you know how tough PBS can be. I mean, come on…”Elmo knows where you live”? That’d freak me out!

Oddly enough, though, Roku doesn’t seem sufficiently freaked out to remove PlayOn functionality completely, just not allow any more subscribers, which is something of an odd twist that I really can’t ascribe a motive to. But if you were an early adopter, you’ve got your PlayOn…at least for now.