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Late in November, the first private Roku Channel launched. EroticVision.TV (EVTV), an aggregator of “adult content” (aka porn), began streaming Wasteland.com video to the television via Roku devices. It’s not my cup of tea. But if whips and clips turn you on, this’ll be right up your alley. Previews are free (and appear to be SD), but a subscription is required for broader access to their library of BDSM.
There’s been various forum and blogosphere debate related to Roku facilitating this sort of content. And perhaps the need for parental controls. However, as a “private” channel, EVTV is initially not visible or advertised at all on Roku. Registration is initiated via EroticVision’s website, and is somewhat convoluted as shown in the bottom three pics… But probably wouldn’t deter a motivated teen.
The bottom line is that anyone can create a Roku Channel by utilizing their software development kit (SDK). Which is more economical and efficient than developing a box and service. (Compare EVTV to FyreTV‘s fits and starts.) In addition to adult content, going forward I expect to see bloggers publishing video Channels. More significant will be the various corporate and educational entities broadcasting relevant to their peeps via Roku. For those sorts of applications, a $100 configuration-free box connected to a television will beat a PC every time.
Update: FyreTV, with 15,000 adult titles, is now available on Roku too.
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12 Responses for "The Private Channels of Roku (Education & Porn)"
Thanks for the well written article Dave. I would like to clear a couple of things that you mentioned.
Registration: The only additional step over the other channels in the “Channel Store” is going to your roku account and entering the code to install the channel. A lot has been written about how difficult it is to install a channel on the Roku. With that said, no one seems to be having issues in figuring out how to install channels.
Content: This content is for adults. We do not market to “teens”. As a responsible parent, if you see the EroticVision.TV channel installed, and you didn’t put it there, you need to have a talk with your child.
Installing the EroticVision.TV by going to http://www.EroticVision.TV/register requires that you are the registered owner of the Roku device. In addition when you install the EroticVision.TV you MUST create a 5 digit numeric PIN number. No adult content can be seen until the correct PIN number has been entered on the television.
EroticVision.TV will be adding more adult content options shortly.
Michael, I’m in agreement that parents are responsible for monitoring their children’s activities. However I’m not a parent, and can’t speak directly to this… But I’m guessing monitoring is probably easier said than done and assume most teens are probably more tech savvy than their parents. So I wonder if Roku created an entire adult/private mode, an anti-Kidzone and something Vudu does, might make folks a bit more comfortable. Then again, it could all be noise as folks just seem to enjoy debating on the web.
Please keep us updated on your content expansion plans and various subscriptions.
I’ve seen various debates in the Roku forums about parental controls. It appears that the folks a Roku are leaving the responsibility of creating parental controls to the content providers.
I agree that keeping EroticVision and other adult content as a private channel should keep most kids from accidentally landing on the channel. My only concern is if the parent has the channel on there on purpose. Putting an “enter the number you see” prompt at the start would prevent access by lucky button presses.
In either case, parents should talk to their children about adult content and whether or not it belongs in their home. Without parental involvement, all the roadblocks in the world will not keep kids out.
As an active participant in the Roku forums, I can attest to the fact that there was a lot of spirited discussion when EroticVision.TV was rumored to be the first private channel. As I recall, there were three general areas of discussion. First, there was concern about the ability of parents to maintain control. Second, there was a group that posited that porn can determine the winner for a particular technology/product. And third, there was discussion about whether adding a porn channel – private or not – was a good move at that particular time, considering that Roku was, and still is to a large extent, trying to establish itself with premium content. I believe a comment I made at the time was, “would Roku simply become known as the porn box?”
A couple months after the fact, it would appear that adding EroticVision.TV has not hurt Roku. I haven’t come across any negative comments relating to the ability to lock out children. It seems as though users of that channel are satisfied with the parental controls. Additionally, I haven’t come across any negative press relating to Roku allowing a porn channel. About the only negatives I have seen in the Roku forums from those that have tried it, is that the available content is thin and it would appear that those that enjoy porn don’t particularly care for the BDSM flavor.
At the end of the day, I don’t believe EroticVision.TV has hurt Roku, nor do I believe that it (or any other porn channel) is going to take Roku to the top of the STB field. What they needed back in November and still do, is premium content, content and more content.
Shane, jcm – What’s interesting is that the exact same debates came up when Vudu launched the AVN channel. Don’t think it moved the needle much in either direction in terms of sales or perception and eventually the conversation ceased.
FYI I updated the post by distorting the third picture in the top row as we’re mostly a family-friendly web site.
On more general grounds, this is what I wish TiVo would do and have been asking them to do for years – open up the TiVoCast sandbox with an API for 3rd parties to publish content. Yes, RSS feeds are great, but don’t address things like 3rd party commercial content providers – as we have here on Roku. TiVo could provide a generic payment interface and API to enable the content, and take a cut of the proceeds. It’d also allow them to distance themselves from any content that some might find objectionable while still enabling access.
And TiVo already has KidZone and other parental controls.
I agree with megaZone – why in the world TiVo has not opened up the IP delivery to interested third parties is beyond me. It is a revenue stream just not being tapped and it is a media stream I would want to have more options on.
Porn has been a part of any technology that delivers media and always will be. As seen here it has no direct impact on the technology other than to add revenue.
And simple parental controls are all that is needed as the rest is indeed up to the parent being responsible.
As long as there are child protection features available, I don’t see a problem with adult video content. Why should there be an issue with porn/adult content on Roku? There isn’t anywhere else. This is the 21st century and it is normal to run across porn offerings. There are hardcore porn video names the run across my TV cable guide everyday…at least Roku is making this private and children and those whom may feel offended will not be subject to viewing anything to do with adult channels. Furthermore, Roku’s private adult channels are high-quality. Check out (PinkTV.com) and (eroticvisiontv.com), if you want to see porn that is actually good and of any value, Roku has it.
In order to install a “private” channel like this one you have to login to your Roku online account. Just make sure the kiddies don’t have the password. If you are super paranoid you can even set it up so that no channels can be added (even ones in the channel store) without a password.
I do still wish both Roku and Netflix had a kid mode. Roku is actually a pretty good device for kids to use. It has pictures and is easy enough for even little ones to navigate. I just wish I could set up a que just for the little guy with all of his shows so that (when he is allowed to watch tv) he can choose whatever he wants.
You know, this “we must protect the kids” non-sense has got to stop. Kids are very smart and immediately perceive hypocrisy. Is this what y’all really want to raise, hypocrites??
Has anyone here honestly been harmed by exposure to porn as a kid? Has anyone here not seen porn as a kid?? Even back in the days of VHS porn was easily available to almost any kid who wanted it, from dad’s stash to your friend’s dad’s stash to the local video store’s stash behind the counter….
Y’all mentioned how kids are much more technologically savvy than their parents. Well, guess what: they’re also much more sexually aware. Fellatio these days is akin to kissing on the lips back in ours (’80s)!
For all the parents out there concerned that Roku will spoil your kids. If your kid has a laptop or access to an uncontrolled computer, they have access to thousands of hours and millions of pictures of FREE unrestricted porn.
In addition, there are many married couples who would like to have access to some erotic videos to enhance their lovemaking. Do they not have a right?
Parents, WATCH and TEACH your kids. You had them, you’re responsible. Sorry, that’s how it’s been since the dawn of time. If you can’t keep them from watching porn on the family tv, maybe you should yank the box and put it in your bedroom.
ah yes, the comments from people without children. quite frankly, you really don’t grasp the dilemma. if you are trying to maintain a sense of purity in your home, the roku device is a source of anxiety. yes, i could not use it. yes, i can hide the remote. but it would be so nice to be able to partake of all the stuff on there that we consider to be wonderful programming and not have to have any worries. proctecting your kids is not non-sensical. their hearts and minds are precious to us. and yes, viewing porn as a child is harmful. if not, when you have some children, let them watch it, if it’s so benign, as you state. my guess is that you will find yourself protecting your children from it. then ask yourself why?
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