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- Hacker News
- The US really is just allowing all sorts of horizontal and vertical mergers. There is enough economic theory to suggest this is a net negative for consumers. We are powering through it anyway.by spprashant
- Ugh, Fox. I recently made the decision to not spend $10.99/month for their FoxOne app to stream World Cup matches. I decided to watch the Telemundo broadcasts instead, even though I don’t speak Spanish, just to not give Fox my money. If I were Roku user, this would definitely cause me to quit being a Roku user. I doubt I’d be the only one, but I also do not believe it will be enough total to be noticeable.by dylan604
- Do you think people will throw away their perfectly functioning devices because of politics?by carlosjobim
- I could not handle the Spanish commentary, though. I know that that's a real cultural gap on my side, but Spanish soccer commentary is something I could never get accustomed to - way too much talking for my taste, and I especially cannot relate at all to the goal "celebrations".by kleiba2
- FYI if you live in/near an urban area, you can probably get a ton of world cup matches with an antenna without directly giving Fox money.by Marsymars
- If this happens, our Roku TV is going in the trash. They locked out their customers of their own devices by pushing updated firmware that forced agreement to new terms. They lost my trust during that episode, and this move shows that was the right decision.
Meanwhile, Fox lost my respect decades ago. The idea that they could gain network level access to one of my devices cannot be reconciled with my need to feel secure and safe in my own home.
Anyone wanna take the opportunity to share their favorite brands and models of dumb TVs?
by voakbasda - Any but never connect it to the internet and use an appletvby riahi
- I think I’m going with a Google TV. I already trust them on my phones anyway.
If you want more control buy a pc monitor and some speakers or commercial display.
by 999900000999 - I use a sony projector as my tv -- it's a finicky expensive device, but the picture is good and there's no apps or network connection on it
- > Anyone wanna take the opportunity to share their favorite brands and models of dumb TVs?
You can find them in your local Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist region.
by gaws - The closest thing you will fine to a dumb tv is a commercial display, which will not be available with the latest OLED, 120hz, etc.
You have to buy a smart TV and disable the internet + external device like Apple TV or Nvidia Shield.
- I never liked the idea of Roku since I always felt like they could "go away at any moment" since that is all they sold basically.
Fun fact, Roku sells security cameras at Walmart, they're technically rebranded Wyze cameras (look just like them, same hardware) with Roku software on them. If you did buy one of those Roku cameras, maybe a good time to switch off to Wyze if you don't like this direction.
- > rebranded Wyze cameras
Is that even possible? IIRC Wyze cameras are whatever cheap Chinese OEM model thy find and can brand the firmware for. Seems as likely that Roku went to same OEM source.
by xnx - "I never liked the idea of Roku since I always felt like they could "go away at any moment" since that is all they sold basically."
That's odd since they've been around for 23 years. I would understand that stance 20 years ago.
by SirFatty - A company with the business practices of Fox News I will not buy services or products from. Same with regards to Oracle.
I actually regret buying a Nvidia Shield TV. Yes, software support might be there. But what isn't there is the interface (without advertising, the cancer of the world) it came with. Thanks to Google. Thanks to Google, my children are now forced to see inappropriate advertising when the TV gets powered on.
by Fnoord - It's very easy to block the Shield home screen ad with piholeby valicord
- I don't know why you blame Google, as if Nvidia wasn't the one who made the device, chose the software, and sold it to you.
Were they held at gun point by Google? Is there a contractual obligation to not ship their own ads-free launcher instead of randomly switching back to Google's? Are they not the one packaging and distributing the software?
by tredre3 - Install Projectivy Launcher. No more ads and you can customize everything.by telcal
- So what are the alternatives?
I have mostly Frame TVs and a projector. I always loved the Roku experience, it really felt like the best media player software, they just kept improving it, and having all TVs on the ecosystem made it even better. One app for virtual remotes, bluetooth listening, searching with your phone keyboard, etc.
I don't want to go back to the Frame's software. I really like the Backdrops app and so many other features.
But it just seems like this acquisition can only accelerate the ensh*tification of Roku. They already changed the default home screen a few weeks ago to show recommendations, SO MANY ads, etc and you change it in settings.
But as other commentors have mentioned, now we'll probably have Fox News and Truth Social front and center whether we want it or not.
So many apps have DRM that prevent you from running it yourself in any way. Is there another way that lets you run Netflix, Paramount+, HBO, all the majors without any trouble that is as integrated as Roku, or at least anything heading in that direction?
- > So what are the alternatives?
A dumb TV you can buy for cheap on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist with an Nvidia Shield or a similar streaming device running Android.
by gaws - > I don't want to go back to the Frame's software
It’s not really a viable option if you wanted to. I have two Frames and they both just keep deteriorating to the point they are pretty useless. I have added an appletv to one of them and it’s vastly improved the UX. Now the only thing I need to do with the Samsung software is the unreasonably slow task of switching inputs.
by hamburglar - I had to look to see whether this was NewsCorp Fox or Disney Fox. In the 00s I did some contract work at Fox Filmed Entertainment (the part of the company later bought by Disney) which was introduced during interviews as Fox Filmed Entertainment We Have Nothing To Do With Fox News.by dhosek
- Whats the relevancy here of which Fox subsidiary you did contract work for as it relates to the Roku offer?by ben4next
- It's the Murdoch one.by evan_
- Disney has been slowly but delicately clipping the name Fox out of the company names and public facing brands it bought, presumably to further distance from the remaining parts at News Corp (Fox News): 20th Century Fox to 20th Century Studios (which is a sort of funny unwinding of the 1935 merger, I think especially because 20th Century is now such a dated term), Fox Searchlight to Searchlight Pictures, things like that. Most of those brands also generally now report on the org charts directly to their pre-existing Disney counterparts or as direct peers to them and the "Fox Filmed Entertainment" middle layer seems to be almost entirely gone now (as there's no replacement for that name).
At this point it does seem easier to not have to look up if something is NewsCorp Fox or the parts of Fox that Disney bought because Disney no longer calls them Fox.
by WorldMaker - Some alternative sources
- Fox PR: https://www.foxcorporation.com/news/corp-press-releases/2026...
- Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fox-buy-roku-...
by andrewla - - An important update about Roku https://www.roku.com/blog/roku-fox
- A year ago I started moving away from Roku. I think they've always had ads on the home screen which I blocked with a DNS blocklist but the seasonal ad sections that continued popping up in the menu despite my continually blocking them wore on me. I've upgraded to an nvidia shield using projectivy launcher which allows me to set a customized and very clean interface with the just the apps I use and nothing else. I definitely recommend it.
- No the Home Screen ads were added in an update 2.5ish years ago. I know this because that is when I decided to disconnect my Roku tv from the internet rather than see ads when I turn my tv on.
I had been a pretty big Roku fan before that point as I had worked with them back in ~2017 and knew how locked down and sewn up they kept customer data, and only shared it in a very anonymized way. Obviously the situation has degraded in the recent years, and caused me to brick the functionality of a very expensive device.
Seems like it’s impossible to have a smart tv now that actually respects privacy, so back to dumb tvs and connections to pcs?
by blackjack_ - Time for the 'Fox News' button on the Roku remote. Truth Social tweets on your screensaver.by baggachipz