SAN JOSE, Calif. — Television streaming giant Roku will ban porn and NSFW streaming channels in March of 2022, according to media reports. Protocol reports that Roku is getting rid of its Pornhub channel, and other porn channels will be removed from its “Private Channels” independent developer’s toolbox ecosystem. Roku runs one of the world’s most comprehensive streaming platforms.
Roku OS, Linux-based, allows developers to test private channels. The feature has also been a way for developers to target Roku owners with content platforms that aren’t allowed or found in the company’s channel list. Adult companies like MindGeek (Pornhub), Adult Empire, AEBN, Wicked, Adult Time, and Naughty America have utilized the private channel developer tools to directly market channels to users to access content on their smart Roku TVs and streaming devices.
These private channels will thus disappear on March 1, per the Protocol news report by a senior reporter Janko Roettgers.
“Roku’s existing policy of effectively turning a blind eye to private channels has been criticized in the past,” reports Roettgers. “Rights holders have at times clashed with the company over private channels that offered access to unlicensed content.”
“Sales of Roku devices were even briefly banned in Mexico over this very issue,” Protocol reports. Tech Crunch reported several years ago that Roku experienced a major legal battle in Mexico over piracy, resulting in a ban on sales of its devices in the country. However, in mid-October of 2018, a court in Mexico City issued a favorable ruling allowing Roku to resume sales. Cablevision, a cable operator, owned by media giant Televisa, sued Roku for alleging that the company’s devices were being hacked to allow users to watch pirated TV.
The problem was Roku’s private channels feature.
“Roku began to display a warning message that it may remove uncertified channels that contain illegal content without notice, and that it could ban repeat infringers from accessing any other uncertified channels,” reports Protocol, which emulates the nature of Cablevision’s complaint against Roku at the time of the suit.
Naughty America CEO Andreas Hronopoulos told Roettgers that they weren’t too worried about Roku’s change in policy for private channels. Hronopoulos said that “fortunately for ourselves and other media companies, there are new platforms like Rad to fill this void.” Rad, owned by Little Star Media, is a blockchain-based streaming platform for video content of all types.
Google Chromecast, gaming consoles like PlayStation and Xbox, and even apps sold through the Roku Channel Store can cast content from their mobile devices or through the in-operating system web browsers. For instance, Xbox Series X has a console-built distro of Microsoft Edge — Microsoft’s successor of Internet Explorer built for Xbox 360 consoles.
