Well the unthinkable has happened. OK that might be over the top, but it was a surprise when Amazon added the Roku channel to its Fire TV app lineup. The Roku Channel on Fire TV is a bit different than the Roku channel on a Roku though. It does not have the option to subscribe to services, nor does it provide the live TV grid that is available via Roku TV’s and Roku players. But by allowing Roku on to the Amazon App Store it turns another page on the combining of ecosystems and services that is making streaming easier for cord cutters and streamers alike. On a Fire TV The Roku Channel is like other ad-supported services such as Crackle or Tubi TV. The channel does have live feeds from its curated video partners in much the same way as it always has on the Roku version of the channel, but does not offer the fancy interface.
This leads us to an important question. When will we see IMDB TV as a standalone app for Roku? There are movies and TV Shows from IMDB TV available in the Amazon Prime Video app for Roku but they are only part of a number of video options in the app. On the other hand IMDB TV is a stand alone app on Fire TV broken down by genre and now even including a curated grid. It would be reasonable to assume that if there is a Roku Channel movie and TV player for the Fire TV, then an IMDB TV Channel must be on the way for Roku.
Roku would be a logical partner for Amazon for a number of reasons. It was the first video partner Amazon ever had when Prime video was in its infancy. It also has been a partner with Amazon since that time and maintains the current Amazon Prime app even going as far as to offer the Amazon Channels subscription service through the app. There are a number of changes coming to the Roku with a operating system upgrade. So we expect to see the IMDB TV channel to launch at least as soon as the other changes come, maybe with the launch of the latest Roku Ultra device.
