Charter, Roku reach new carriage deal for Spectrum TV app

Charter Communications and Roku today said they have finally reached a new agreement for carriage of the Spectrum TV app on the Roku platform.

“Charter Communications and Roku have reached a mutually beneficial agreement to renew distribution of the Spectrum TV App (STVA) on the Roku platform. As a result of the renewal, the Spectrum TV App is now available for download from the Roku channel store. We are pleased to renew our partnership and offer this great streaming experience to our shared customers,” the companies said in a shared statement.

Charter customers who previously had the Spectrum TV app downloaded to their Roku devices never lost access to the app. But the standoff prevented new Roku users from getting the app.

RELATED: Charter, Roku standoff exacerbated by new tech issues

Today’s agreement ends a carriage dispute that stretches back to December 2020. At the time, Charter alerted customers to the disruption and directed them to download the Spectrum app on Apple TV, Samsung smart TV and Xbox platforms or on their smartphone or tablet.

“Despite our best efforts to reach an agreement, Roku has not accepted Spectrum's offer to continue our contract, which allowed customers to access the Spectrum TV app from Roku devices,” the company wrote on its website.

“As America’s #1 streaming platform we are committed to providing access to amazing streaming content at an exceptional value for our users. Our contract with Charter for the distribution of the Spectrum TV (v)MVPD channel on the Roku platform expired and we are working together to reach a positive and mutually beneficial distribution agreement,” a Roku spokesperson said in a statement at the time.

Last month, multiple Roku users reported receiving an error message after trying to log into the Spectrum app: “Spectrum TV is only available in the U.S. and its territories, ref code RLC-1002.” The hiccup likely didn’t have anything to do with the Roku-Charter dispute but the issue was made worse by some Spectrum users attempting to uninstall and re-install the app that at that point was still not available in the Roku store.