What Roku channel development covers
Roku work runs from a first channel build to keeping a published one healthy. I take the full scope: BrightScript and SceneGraph interfaces, video playback, catalog browsing, sign-in, and billing when the channel charges. You can hand over a defined Roku project or bring me in to ship one that has stalled. Everything is billed at a flat remote day rate, with no agency markup.
Roku runs its own stack, and that is the whole story
Roku is not Android and it is not Apple. Channels are written in BrightScript against the SceneGraph framework, and the hardware is modest: tight memory, a slow CPU on older sticks, and a remote with a D-pad. Nothing carries over from a Swift or Kotlin codebase, and a wrapped web app will not pass certification. I work inside those limits instead of pretending they are not there.
Video playback on Roku
Most Roku channels live or die on playback. The Roku video node handles HLS and DASH, with Widevine or PlayReady when the content is protected. I cover fast start, clean seeking, subtitle and audio tracks, live and catch-up streams, and ad insertion through the Roku Advertising Framework when the channel is ad-funded.
Getting through Roku certification
Roku publishes a certification checklist, and channels fail it for unglamorous reasons: deep links that do not resolve, missing trick play, a channel that does not resume where it left off, memory that creeps during a long session. I build against that checklist from the start rather than meeting it for the first time at submission.
Private channels, beta channels, and the Channel Store
Not every Roku channel belongs in the public store. Roku supports private and beta channels that activate with a code, which is how internal tools, client demos, and staged rollouts usually run. I set up whichever route fits your case, and take a channel through public Channel Store submission when that is the goal.