The Roku Channel, which offers free-to-watch, ad-supported movies, TV shows, and live news, is introducing premium subscriptions. Users will soon be able to get networks including Showtime, Starz, and Epix, and pay for everything on one bill — similar to Amazon Prime Video and its add-on channels. The Roku Channel isn't strictly limited to Roku hardware: it's available on an expanding list of devices and is a huge focus for the company.
There are several differences between what Roku's doing and Prime Channels, though. First, Amazon's solution requires Prime, whereas Roku's subscriptions don't have any prerequisites aside from you setting up a Roku account. The second difference — and perhaps a more important one — is that Roku isn't...