If you’ve been having trouble wading through all the sports content available on Roku’s various channels, good news: The streamer is rolling out a new hub that makes it easier to find live sporting events.
Live as of today, the new “Sports experience” sits on the Home screen menu along with such main menu items as What to Watch, Search, and Store.
When you select the Sports tab, you’ll see rows that let you browse by sports categories, such as professional and college football, while other rows include “Events on Now,” “Upcoming Events,” and sports apps.
The Roku sports “experience” lets your browse live and upcoming sporting events, sports apps, sporting categories, and more.
Roku
Click on a tile for a live or upcoming game, and you’ll see which “supported” channels offer the event for streaming.
Roku will also offer “deeper, more convenient integration” of sports content within Roku search results (both text and voice) and the Sports Zone.
Roku channels and services supporting the new sports hub include Apple TV, DirecTV, Fox Sports, FuboTV, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Sling, TNT, TBS, TruTV, and The Roku Channel. More channels will be added to the list in the “coming months,” Roku says.
Meanwhile, supported sports categories in Roku’s “sports experience” include professional and college football and basketball, pro hockey and baseball, and soccer, including the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The new Roku sports hub comes as the big streamers are putting more and more emphasis on live sports.
Amazon is in the midst of its first season of self-produced Thursday Night Football, Paramount+ offers live local NFL games, Peacock has Sunday Night Football, and Apple recently wrapped up Friday Night Baseball, with Apple’s Major League Soccer coverage on tap for next year.
Besides its new sports “experience,” Roku is announcing a couple of new sports shows that are debuting on The Roku Channel.
The Rich Eisen Show is now an exclusive on The Roku Channel, while Emeril Tailgates, a sports-oriented cooking show starring celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, is a new Roku Original series.
Editor’s note: The author’s spouse is an Amazon Prime Video staffer.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, TechHive
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he has covered everything from smart speakers and soundbars to smart lights and security cameras. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature.