Roku expands Search to 50+ channels and adds news videos

June 30, 2016 - 21:05 -- RokuGuide

Sling TV adds 12 Viacom ChannelsIf you've ever been frustrated by Roku's search function, which searched only a handful of the top movie channels - most of which were fee-based services - you'll be pleased to learn that Roku has greatly expanded their on-device search. Searches from the Roku home screen now return results from over 50 channels, and those results also include news videos from several sources.

If you haven't used the Roku search function before, you'll find it on the home screen of your Roku device or Roku TV. If you are searching for a movie or TV show, enter a title word to produce a list of matches. Select a title and you'll see a list of the Roku channels (out of the 50+ covered by the expanded search engine) where you can view it, along with the price (free movies are identified as such). Enter the name of an actor or producer and you can navigate to a list of movies or TV shows with that person in the credits. From there, you can also find out where the video can viewed.

There are two options for searching news videos. You can enter a search term or a date. As shown in the accompanying screenshot, a search for Brexit returns a list of videos about that topic.

Roku Search screenshot

If you want to see all news videos for a given day, just enter the month and date as shown in this screenshot.

Roku Search screenshot

There are some limitations to the news search. For example, you cannot filter search results to specific news channels. You may want to see only today's business headlines, but as the above screenshot shows, you may have to wade through videos about snakes eating beavers to get to what you want. For the casual browser, though, the search-by-date function provides some usefulness.

One final note on searching: You can also use Roku Search to find a specific channel by entering the channel's name. To limit your search to channels only, go to Streaming Channels from your Roku's home menu, then use the Search Channels function found there.

Roku lists the following channels as being included in the expanded search engine:

ABC, ABC News, Acorn TV, Amazon Video, BIGSTAR, Bloomberg TV, CBS All Access, CBS News, CinemaNow, Comedy Central, CONtv, Crackle, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Docurama, Dove Channel, DramaFever, Encore Play, FandangoNOW, Fandor, Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, FOX NOW, Freeform, FXNOW, Google Play, HBO GO, Hulu, Indieflix, Met Opera on Demand, MTV, NAT GEO TV, NBC News, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Premiere, Popcornflix, Pop Flix Classic Movies, Shout Factory TV, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, SnagFilms Watch Free Movies, Starz Play, Time Warner Cable, Tribeca Shortlist, Tubi TV, VH1, Viewster, VUDU, WATCH Cooking Channel, WATCH DIY Network, Watch Food Network, Watch HGTV and Watch Travel Channel

However, I have my doubts about the search engine being fully updated with all videos from all of these channels. In one of my search tests I looked for "Aerial America," available on Smithsonian Channel, which is shown in Roku's list of searchable channels. Roku Search told me that episodes are available only on Amazon Video and VUDU. This may be because Roku searches only complete seasons and not individual episodes. However, I performed other searches on movie titles and the results did not include a channel that I confirmed carried that title.

For more information on the expanded Roku Search, visit the Roku Stream Blog: "Roku Search now finds entertainment from 50+ streaming channels including news."