The Popular Free2View Roku Channel Shut Down after Developer Received a Cease and Desist Piracy Warning
Rebroadcasting provider content without written permission can land Roku channel developers in hot water when the legal cease and desist letters arrive.
This is what happened to the owner of the popular Free2View Roku Channel after the developer received a legal notice informing him that the channel was in violation of copyright laws.
As of June 21, 2022, the public Free2View Roku channel has shut down. After the channel owner was hit with a cease and desist letter from the Covington Law Firm notifying the channel owner that the channel was in direct violation of U.S. copyright law.
From the Canadian channel developer:
This public Roku channel featured live TV streams of popular live TV channels. At first the Free2View channel was released as a private Roku channel, and then earlier in the year when Roku stopped supporting private channels and now only allowed very limited use. The channel developer was able to convert the channel to a public channel. This passed the Roku channel certification process.
This is somewhat surprising and shows that Roku can't thoroughly vet every public Roku channel for piracy. Piracy concerns were why they clamped down so hard on private channels in the past.
So the moral of this story is while a channel developer can claim they are legally broadcasting content when faced with a cease and desist letter the smart thing is to comply and not risk a potential lawsuit.
"To all the fans: Yes, it was a takedown order from Weigel that required me to remove their OTA channels. The copyright violation was unintentional as I thought the streams were from verified sources and it turns out they were not."
This public Roku channel featured live TV streams of popular live TV channels. At first the Free2View channel was released as a private Roku channel, and then earlier in the year when Roku stopped supporting private channels and now only allowed very limited use. The channel developer was able to convert the channel to a public channel. This passed the Roku channel certification process.
This is somewhat surprising and shows that Roku can't thoroughly vet every public Roku channel for piracy. Piracy concerns were why they clamped down so hard on private channels in the past.
So the moral of this story is while a channel developer can claim they are legally broadcasting content when faced with a cease and desist letter the smart thing is to comply and not risk a potential lawsuit.
Had the content owners directed their letter to Roku instead, the channel would have no doubt been promptly removed from Roku's platform before the deloper could even shut it down. In this case the developer took the channel down before Roku could act.
While many Roku users will certainly lament the loss of the Free2View Roku channel, there are still some great low-cost Roku channel alternatives from legal sources. FrndlyTV is a channel that features 40+ channels. Both live and on-demand and the price is affordable when compared to many other live streaming channels. Prices start as low as $6.99/month after a 7/day free trial for SD quality, HD quality and two streams is $2 dollars more..
Here are the channels currently available on FrndlyTV
A&E
Hallmark Channel
The HISTORY Channel
INSP
Lifetime
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
Gameshow
Lifetime Movie Network
FETV
The Weather Channel
Hallmark Drama
UPtv
FYI
GAC Family
Circle
CuriosityStream
Pixl
Outdoor Channel
Dove Channel
GetTV
BYUtv
GAC Living
Military HISTORY
World Fishing Network
Sportsman Channel
VICE TV
Local Now
Recipe.TV
BabyFirst
Dove Kids
QVC
Hallmark Movies Now
FMC
Heartland TV
StoryTV
MeTV
Heroes & Icons
Start TV
Decades
Dove Family Movies
Crime & Investigation
Movies!
You can watch it on Roku, Apple TV, and Android. Sign-up for it at: https://try.frndlytv.com/a/no
For some other great Roku channels including some which can be watched Free be sure to see This List!
Best Free2View Roku Channel Alternative
While many Roku users will certainly lament the loss of the Free2View Roku channel, there are still some great low-cost Roku channel alternatives from legal sources. FrndlyTV is a channel that features 40+ channels. Both live and on-demand and the price is affordable when compared to many other live streaming channels. Prices start as low as $6.99/month after a 7/day free trial for SD quality, HD quality and two streams is $2 dollars more..
Here are the channels currently available on FrndlyTV
A&E
Hallmark Channel
The HISTORY Channel
INSP
Lifetime
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
Gameshow
Lifetime Movie Network
FETV
The Weather Channel
Hallmark Drama
UPtv
FYI
GAC Family
Circle
CuriosityStream
Pixl
Outdoor Channel
Dove Channel
GetTV
BYUtv
GAC Living
Military HISTORY
World Fishing Network
Sportsman Channel
VICE TV
Local Now
Recipe.TV
BabyFirst
Dove Kids
QVC
Hallmark Movies Now
FMC
Heartland TV
StoryTV
MeTV
Heroes & Icons
Start TV
Decades
Dove Family Movies
Crime & Investigation
Movies!
You can watch it on Roku, Apple TV, and Android. Sign-up for it at: https://try.frndlytv.com/a/no
For some other great Roku channels including some which can be watched Free be sure to see This List!
