The X Factor

The X Factor THIS CHANNEL IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN THE ROKU CHANNEL STORE.

RokuGuide Review: If you're a fan of The X Factor, you can dump the DVR and follow Simon Cowell's singing competition on your Roku. You can't catch the show live, but Roku's The X Factor channel does a nice job of cutting out the show's fluff and letting you spend your time watching the performances. It's almost as if you were fast-forwarding on your DVR, except that you can't skip through the 30-second commercial at the beginning of each clip.

Channel content is arranged by contest round. Under "Top 17" are performances from the first live show. "Top 12" shows videos of the elimination announcements and performances from the second live show. And so on. You can choose individual videos if you want to watch specific performances, or start with the first video and select "Play All" for continuous streaming of all of the videos from that round (interrupted, of course, by a commercial at the start of each segment - as I've said before, somebody has to pay the bills).

If The X Factor is on the Roku next season, I'd like to see them take advantage of the Roku format by giving us content not available on the live show, like rehearsals, behind-the-scenes videos, and interviews with the performers. The X Factor channel does a nice job of presenting performances from each episode, though, and I have to give the show credit for not using the Roku as nothing more than a marketing channel. They could have given us "sneak previews" or short clips, but they chose to give us real content.

Developer's Channel Description: THE X FACTOR is a the hit series that gives viewers the opportunity to help choose the next global music sensation. Watch the live performances and see which act you think is worthy of the largest prize in television history: a $5 million recording contract.

CHANNEL STORE CATEGORY: THIS CHANNEL IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN THE ROKU CHANNEL STORE.

DEVELOPER: THE X FACTOR

FEES: None