Roku is Add a Kids & Family Section to its Free Channel
The Roku Channel has a new Kids & TV section with both content and ads curated by human reviewers. The company is also adding a new parental controls feature.
Roku is continuing to improve its ad-supported free streaming channel to include even more content. This week the company announced it is adding a Kids & Family section to The Roku Channel. What’s more, the available content will be curated by human reviewers and not an algorithm. The Kids & Family section will include a mix of shows that are grouped into categories for different age ranges.
Kids & Family Section Added to The Roku Channel
In its announcement, Roku explains the new section “makes it easy for children and parents to find a great selection of tailored content available for free and through Premium Subscriptions available in one, easy-to-access destination.” The content will include shows, movies, and select live content. Roku says it will be adding more than 7,000 new shows from more than 20 partners. They include the likes of Happy Kids TV, Lionsgate, Mattel, All Spark, and others.
Just like other programming on The Roku Channel the content is free but ad-supported. However, the company says it will have 40 percent fewer ads compared to regular Roku Channel content. And, just like the shows themselves, the ads will be screened to ensure they are age-appropriate. But if you subscribe to premium channels like HBO, Noggin, or Noggin through The Roku Channel, you will also see kid-appropriate content form those networks as well.
Roku is also rolling out a Parental controls feature for The Roku Channel. The company says this will provide “parents an additional layer of control over what their kids can playback” from the channel. This will allow you to set a PIN to view videos based on the content rating.
The Roku Channel has continued to improve since its initial release in 2017. It continues to get new on-demand content as well as live news, sports, and TV shows. There is also free web access to its all the channel’s content through your browser – you don’t need to own a Roku device to watch it (but do need a Roku account).
The new Kids & Family section is available now in the U.S. on Roku streaming players, Roku TVs, on the web, and select Samsung smart TVs.
