We don’t post many higher priced items, except when we really think it matters and if there is a “thrifty” reason for it! A Roku streaming device is one of them.
We personally do not have a television service of any type from an outside company. In fact, we can’t get even local stations as we don’t have the digital connection needed to even connect locally. This all means that we literally monthly save $30, $40, $50 or whatever cable costs these days!
So what do we do? We have honestly not missed a television service. Why? Because we can watch our favorite shows with a Roku device! We can even watch some news as well!
We wanted to share this idea with you because you can literally save hundreds per year! It is a Roku HD streaming TV system. We own one of these and the initial smaller investment (less than the cost of 1 month of cable television) yields an unlimited amount of entertainment and eliminates the need for cable and many other entertainment expenses.
Roku streams internet tv on your tv. You have channels like Hulu, Amazon Prime (the ability to stream over 40,000 movies and TV shows from Amazon’s Instant video – many of which are FREE or for the same cost of a rental!). There are 600+ channels that you can add (like how you add apps on your smart phones) and many of those channels are free to add. They even have game apps like the ones for smart phones and tablets such as Angry Birds that you play on your TV with your Roku remote.
We love our Roku for these main reasons:
#1. Sermon Audio Channel which allows us to stream the video or audio of our favorite sermons and lectures as they are added each day, and tune into live webcasts by using the Roku device.
#2. Our Amazon Channel and the ability to stream 40,000+ movies or tv shows, many of which are free for Amazon Prime members. We have enjoyed many movie classics and this Christmas season many seasonal movies and shows – plus tons of family and animated movies and shows.
#3. Pandora – we love to play music on our TV and Pandora is one of our favorites as we can get a customized “radio” station with the genre of songs we love. The Classical music while kids are doing their school, the fun music while we do our 20-minute quick cleans, the Christmas music, Psalms, Hymns or the classics music from our younger days. And the Pandora channel is FREE too!
#4 – Hulu – This is another way (like Amazon) to avoid paying for cable, even if there are shows that you like to watch on TV that need cable, with this you don’t! You can access the TV shows on Hulu just a short time after their actual airing time! There is a free Hulu service which has limitations on what you can watch, but then you can pay around $8 a month for Hulu Plus which is pretty much a full-scale television programming options! You can find out more about it and even sign up for a 2-week trial here.
#5 – Netflix – you can also stream Netflix on your Roku, whether you are a $7 monthly member or higher, you can access the streaming shows just on your television!
#6 – Kids Free Disney Channel
#7 – Kids Free PBS Channel – which is already free on your television too, but you can choose what show to watch when and not on the PBS schedule.
#8 – News channels
#9 – Game channels – our whole family gathers around and plays an online virtual game! Our favorite is Wheel of Fortune! It’s also a great game for kids because it really gets them thinking!
And many more of our favorite channels!
With this little device, we have eliminated many household expenses: cable television, movie rentals, subscriptions to other digital media. Plus it is all much simpler to have it all in one place too!
Like we mentioned above, they have 600+ channels on Roku (you shop for channels on the channel store like you would an app store and add those channels to your Roku homepage).
Anyway, once you make the initial purchase of the Roku console, then you can have all of this affordable entertainment and replace many of your other options that you pay for monthly!
Amazon is a great place to get a discount price and free shipping on a Roku Streaming player. Head to Amazon HERE to see the options for the device starting at $35.
Plus if you plan to purchase one of these streaming devices, make sure to check whether you have an HDMI cable as this will give you the best output to your TV. Here’s one amazing deals you can find on them now:
- Amazon: 10-Foot HDMI Cable Deal Only $4.24 Shipped (4.5 star rating)
- Amazon: 15-Foot HDMI Cable Deal Only $4.89 Shipped (4.5 star rating)
Head to Amazon HERE for the Roku options available and shipped free.
So here’s an example of how you can save, even with paying for many additional options that will literally give you everything:
Average cost of cable television basic: $50 per month plus the taxes and fees (usually about $60 total) = $720 per year or $840 if you have a premium channel added.
- Roku device = $50
- Monthly Hulu Plus = $8 ($96)
- Monthly Netflix = $8 ($96) (equal to some of the premium channels that you pay $10 a month for, but you get way more options!)
- Annual Amazon Prime Membership (this is how you can get thousands of movies and television shows for free) = $49- $99 (or free on promotions like this)
At the most…. you will pay $341 the first year ($50 towards your device) and then $291 each additional if you pay for these extra options…. but please note, Roku has over 600 channels, most of which are free! We are just including the most popular paid options. The Amazon channel is totally free to download and use with your Roku, and then you can pay for rentals at .99 and up, or get 40,000 for free if you are a prime member.
See more Amazon Deals
Linda Givens
Do you need to have an internet provider to make this roku work ?
Suzette
Linda, I’m pretty sure you have to have internet. I have a Roku and subscribe to amazon prime, as well. With prime membership you also get free shipping on most purchases through amazon. I do get all local channels on my TV (maybe because we have a big antenna outside) and haven’t had cable in 2 years and I haven’t missed it one bit. I first bought the 35.00 Roku but took it back after it wouldn’t work with my wireless connection for some odd reason but when I upgraded it was perfect and also came with free movie channels galore.I love it and can’t believe I save so much money. I bought an HDMI cable and hook that up for different movies or TV shows on the internet to my big screen TV. Good Luck!
heather
I had this. However, yes you need the Internet connection so by the time I was paying the Internet price, the 7.99 for hulu plus and then the random 1.99 on Amazon for stuff that prime didn’t cover, I was spending the same as I am now that i switched to Verizon. No contract and I pay 90 after taxes for Internet and basic cable which is fine for adults and kids.
Melissa
Kids Free Disney Channel? This is great news because I didn’t think there was one! Can you explain a little bit more because I’m not too familiar with Roku yet. We just got rid of cable and are just using an antenna to get local channels. What channel is Disney? Is it Disney Junior?
Thanks!!
Cassie
HI Melissa,
The Roku Disney Channel is random Disney videos and shows – it’s not the same schedule as the regular Disney channel or Disney Jr. There are some big limitations on the newer Disney stuff. Our kids haven’t noticed or cared! They do have a number of classic Disney episodes on there – like the ones I watched as a kid in the 80’s and 90’s. My kids love those!
Amanda
You should look into SlingTV. You can get the actual Disney channel included in the $20 a month package and add the kids package that includes Disney Jr. and XD for $5 more. We’ve had it since it started in February and love it so far.
Andrea C Parker
What news channels do you get on Roku? Since you have to use it with a internet service – what do you use? My local cable company is about the only internet we can get here – and last I checked it cost me more a month to just have internet – then to have the internet, cable, and phone together (which is ridiculous but true). My husband loves Fox News so that is a big deal – to see if we can still get that or not.
Christopher
It does not stream Fox news, but it has Fox clips and shows.
Kim
Can you tell me the best way to see college sports if using Roku? I’d love to get rid of cable but my husband insists on watching college football & basketball. Thanks for your help!
Daniel
That’s probably the single biggest drawback with Roku and similar devices–no live sporting events whatsoever.
No basketball.
No baseball.
No football.
No hockey.
Nada.
So Roku is NOT a good device if you’ve got a sports fan in your house!
King
Actually, you can get the NHL Gamecenter and NBA Gametime. Yes, they are pay services but well worth it. I have a friend who has the Gamecenter package and watches it on his Roku. I checked it out and will be purchasing it for next season. You can watch both home and away team broadcasts. The only drawback is that local market games are blacked out. Luckily for me, my favorite team is the LA Kings so I would be able to watch the majority of their games here in Miami with no issue.
Once there is a viable/inexpensive option to watch college sports, the U-verse box will be gone!
Steve
You can also do MLB.tv on the ROKU as well. Look around or check with friends about sharing an account (5 people can share one account pretty much) so it splits up to only $28 bucks a season.
Jeff
Someone above mentioned Sling. It has ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNews
JoAnn Cazedessus
We need sports plus Fox News and Fox Business . Can you get that.
Jeff
Yes, thru Sling. They have ESPN, ESPN2 etc
Kirsten
I just did this last week. Comcast was costing me a hundred dollars a month. I bought a Roku, I pay for HuluPlus and Netflix. My family couldn’t be happier. I pay 40 a month for internet from CenturyLink.
Nancy
Thank you for this post! I have been wanting to switch to ROKU but didn’t know much about this. This post made it understandable and I think I can do it!
I can’t wait until my contract with Comcast is up! I hate paying the cable bill.
I love reading your posts, and all the details that are included to let us make the changes we need to save money. Thank you!!!
Joyful_2010
We have had Roku for 2+ years… it’s a wonderful way to save money compared with traditional cable/satellite TV packages. Yes, you’ll need internet access and yes, you’ll need to subscribe to Netflix, HuluPlus or Amazon Prime to round out your viewing options (but it’s still WAY cheaper than cable/satellite).
One of the biggest things we’ve noticed is the difference in our children. We don’t have to stress nearly as much that the kids will see inappropriate content during commercials, etc. AND they aren’t begging for every stupid thing they see in the commercials. (YAY!) It also makes our TV watching intentional instead of mindless surfing.
There are drawbacks, though. There is very little sports available; there is also very little in the way of HGTV-type programming. But The History Channel has a devoted ‘station’ on Roku now and more and more TLC and NatGeo-type programming is available through Netflix. Lastly, don’t get too excited about Disney & PBS channels. They offer limited programming available for limited times. It’s NOT like the Disney & PBS channels you’re used to on cable/satellite.
If you can live with less sports then this could be a great option for your family!
Steve
Another way to save money, check out Bing Rewards. I use it to get Hulu plus for free every month. You do 30 searches a day (I do one search and open up all the related searches in new tabs….it takes less than a minute) and you get enough points to pay for Hulu Plus for a month. I have not paid for it since January and I have it paid off until May. If you do not do Hulu Plus, check it out for $5 amazon gift cards (which I also use to help rent movies). I hope this can help someone save some more money. Link is below.
http://www.bing.com/explore/rewards?PUBL=REFERAFRIEND&CREA=RAW&rrid=_cf0298ab-add4-dc5f-8421-ff2498b77220
Steve
Jillian Nackers
Actually they do have an espn channel now I dont know much about but I am sure you can look into it online. They have fox news, nbc news and more for news channels. Also hulu is always adding more, they are starting to add TLC shows and just added Nat geo and nat geo wild shows, its not all shows but some of the good ones. They have channels like A&E and Disney but you have to have cable subscription to use but if you have family that is paying for cable maybe you could use their subscription to log in? There are so many of the shows from disney and nickelodeon on hulu and netflix that my kids dont notice.They have also just added a WWE channel ( with monthly subsciption) for those that watch wrestling.
Jillian
Thanks alot Steve for the info on bing!
Faye
Do you know if they have the hunting channels? Would not even be able to consider if they are not available. Thanks for your assistance!
courtney
Hi I was curious if you can get the walking dead or childrens shows like spongebob and bubble guppies? Some shows I know we would really miss and not sure if we would want to give them up. However saving money would be nice since my bill is outrageous!
amy
Netflix has Walking Dead but it is a season behind and they do change their content so whatever is available now does not always just stay available. There are also tons of SpongeBob episodes on Netflix right now.
Carla
Will this work on any tv or do you need one of those smart TV’s in order for it to work? I understand that you have to have the device, but is it compatible with any tv
Kim Miller
It now has a free A&E app as well.
Barbara
How does this work with multiple rooms?
amy
You have to have a device on each tv you want to use it on.
Just a side note, if you pay for netflix, you can only have 2 devices using your account at the same time no matter how many devices you buy. We have 2 Rokus, a bluray, and a Wii (all of which are capable of streaming netflixs) on different tvs and our 3 kids can watch things in different rooms, but if it is from netflixs only 2 of them at a time. They can’t all 3 be watching something different unless one of them is using a different Roku channel.
Maureen
We have Roku and have connected an old VCR to watch shows on local channels that are on when we aren’t home such as Big Bang, Mentalist, etc. No one uses VCRs any more, but it works for us. Set a timer for the week, watch, rewind. Cheaper than satellite with DVR.
RL
we dropped our cable package to internet only & went from 180$ to 50$ a month in that one move alone. bought a large roof antennae (rabbit ears only worked in a limited range) similar to this
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Digiwave-ANT5012-Digiwave-New-Concept-Digital-Outdoor-TV-Antenna/29886681
and a roku. we will never go back! right now we dont even have any of the pay channels and are doing just fine! i do recommend them
Stretchingittotravel
Thanks for the Roku information. We finally bit the bullet and got internet at home so I think I am dumping netflix by mail to go with a streaming instead. Roku sounds like it would do that and more for us….
Jan
Any info about Apple TV ?
Robert Smith
I am a devout western movie buff as well as a fox news channel watcher I hardly watch major news networks at all.I saw someone said Roku had fox news but did not specify if it was fox news channel.can someone clear this up for me?? Thanks