This might not be a piece of big news to the folk from US or Canada (and, perhaps, the UK and Mexico, as of recent) since they are probably already pretty familiar with the service, however, thought this might be very useful for VPN users elsewhere.
If you’ve already watched everything on Netflix or Prime and are looking for some more fresh or old-school content, there’s The Roku Channel - a free streaming service (with ad support + premium options) that has a pretty great library of quality shows and movies, such as the original Addams family (1964), 2 Broke Girls, Hell’s Kitchen and many more (Live TV is also available).
The best thing is - with a VPN you can access it for free, without the need for an account or a Roku device while using your web browser. It also seems that the libraries differ based on the country (just like with many other streaming services) with US seemingly having the largest one, so those in the UK, Canada or Mexico can also benefit from it.
- Open NordVPN and connect to any US server (the web-based service seems to be only available in the US as of now).
- Open your preferred browser and clear cookies/cache, since the service seems to be very clingy cookie-wise and might cause issues when accessing it with a VPN. Or use an incognito window (didn’t work on Chrome, but did perfectly fine on Firefox for me).
- Open The Roku Channel either by searching for it or using this link.
- If prompted to sign up or sign in, and you don’t wish to have an account - click on an X at the top-right corner and it shouldn’t prompt again (unless you clear cookies before the next time you access it). If you want to create an account to keep track of the shows you’ve watched, there’s no problem with that - you can go back to the homepage once it asks to add payment details - the account would already be created.
Small tip - I use a separate browser for the services I tend to access often with a VPN - this way I don’t have to clear my cache and log in to my accounts every time.
Small tip #2 - If you turn on Threat Protection - it seems to eliminate ads.
It seems to be working using this method on desktop devices only, however, this might also work with the native Roku app on mobile devices (have not tested it yet).
And that’s it - enjoy the shows!