- Roku has partnered with more than 20 networks to offer extended free trials while everyone is stuck at home waiting out the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- Showtime, EPIX, Lifetime, Hallmark, and History are just some of Roku’s partners for this initiative.
- You’ll need to put down a debit or credit card to sign up for these trials, so be sure to cancel them before they run out if you don’t want to get charged.
- Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.
If you’ve been on the internet at all over the past few weeks as lockdowns and quarantines and social distancing are becoming inextricable parts of our everyday lives, you have probably seen lists of streaming services that are free or offering free trials during the novel coronavirus pandemic. We have published one or two on BGR, but if you’d prefer not to click on a bunch of links to sign up for tons of disparate services, Roku’s got you covered.
Last week, Roku announced a new initiative dubbed Home Together, which focuses on helping the nearly 100 million Roku device owners find free streaming content. Roku has partnered with over 20 premium networks to offer 30 days of free streaming through extended trials within The Roku Channel app.
In The Roku Channel, find the “Home Together” row to redeem extended free trials for the following partners:
- SHOWTIME
- EPIX
- Noggin (60-day trial available starting 4/1/20)
- Lifetime Movie Club
- History Vault
- Smithsonian
- Hallmark
- A&E Crime Central
- AcornTV
- The Great Courses
- UMC
- UP Faith & Family
- FitFusion
- GaiamTV
- Screambox
- Hopster
- Shout! Factory
- Baeble Music
- MHz Choice
- ZooMoo
- Grokker
- Hi-Yah!
- Fandor
- BFI
You will need to supply a valid payment method in order to sign up for any of the 30-day free trials, so be sure to set a reminder to cancel your subscription before you get charged. If you don’t, your subscription will automatically renew at the subscription rate until canceled, and the subscriptions are non-refundable. In order to cancel a subscription, go to my.roku.com/account and you’ll see a link on that page to “Manage your subscriptions.”
Sitting at home all weekend after sitting at home all week can be draining, but with the wealth of free entertainment at our disposal, at least we can’t say we’re bored. Plus, if you decide to take advantage of Showtime’s free trial, you can catch up on Twin Peaks: The Return, which was easily the most fascinating, confusing, and powerful TV-watching experience of the last decade for me. The first two seasons are on Netflix as well.
Beyond the extended trials listed above, Roku also lists some of the channels that have been unlocked during the pandemic, such as Fox News, NBA League Pass, and NBC Sports Gold. Meanwhile, Fox Now has unlocked every past season of The Masked Singer, and WWE has unlocked much of its on-demand library.
