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ZDNET Highlights
- Roku lets you easily watch local news broadcasts for free.
- This feature tracks your location and shows your local colleagues.
- You can also watch national news broadcasts.
If you pay for YouTube TV or a streaming service like Hulu with Live TV mostly for news, there’s one Roku feature you might want to pay attention to.
Roku has a pretty robust – and free – live TV lineup that many people aren’t aware of. With hundreds of channels covering almost any topic, this is a great option if you want to save some money on streaming – and the lineup is constantly growing.
Plus: Your Roku TV has over 100 free live channels — here’s how to watch them (and what’s available)
One of those channels is an easy way to watch your local news stations for free. This feature uses geolocation to aggregate local news feeds from your Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates (those available online at least), meaning your local stations are always at the top of the list. This feature isn’t new, but the recent redesign makes it much easier to find your local channels.
Most news stations these days have their own app, but an option like this makes it easy to switch between stations or switch to local news if you’re watching something else.
How to watch your local news for free
To find free local news streams on your Roku, open the Roku app. This app comes pre-installed on most Roku devices, but you can install it on any smart TV. Select “Live TV” from the menu on the left. On that screen, you’ll see titles from categories like Featured and Trending Now. If you scroll down several categories, you’ll eventually see “Local News Near You.”
My two local major news stations were shown, and I was able to watch both streams easily.
Below that category, you’ll see options for several channels dedicated to national and international news streams and weather, like CNN, CBS, and NBC News. If you want to check out news from another city, there’s also a category for local news streams from across the country.
