Roku to add premium services

The Roku Channel is set to offer premium subscriptions from Showtime, Starz and Epix by late January.

Premium subscriptions will give potential customers the ability to browse all available content across the services before signing up, as well as free trials for all subscriptions and the ability to pay for all premium content in a single monthly bill to Roku.

Free, live and premium content will be presented together in a single channel, creating a simple way to browse, search and watch a wide variety of entertainment without switching to multiple streaming channels.

The Roku app will also give customers the ability to watch all of this content on iOS and Android mobiles.

Premium subscription partners will include Baeble Music, CollegeHumor’s Dropout, CuriosityStream, FitFusion, The Great Courses Signature Collection, Hopster, Magnolia Selects, MHz Choice, Noggin, Smithsonian Channel Plus, Tastemade and Viewster Anime, alongside Showtime, Epix and Starz.

Notably, HBO, Hulu and Netflix are all excluded as app partners.

As the streaming environment gets increasingly crowded, such bundling strategies will become more common. Other companies have already started planning similar offerings.

Recode previously reported that Facebook is also in talks with HBO, Showtime and Starz to offer TV shows and movies for its Facebook Watch users.