One question we get a lot is some version of "when is MarketCast coming to Roku?" The honest answer starts with this: we have nothing against Roku. A Roku app would be a brand new app, written from scratch in a language no other platform uses, and a small team has to choose where its hours go.

We would rather explain that properly than send a one-line "no plans at this time" reply. So here is the developer's version of the answer, and what you can do today if you own a Roku TV and want the market on it.

Why can't you just port an Android TV app to Roku?

Because there is nothing to port. Most people assume TV apps are like websites: build it once, and each TV brand runs it. They are not.

Here is how MarketCast is built today. Fire TV and Google TV / Android TV both run Android underneath, so one Android app covers both, with small differences for each store. Apple TV is a separate app, written in Swift with Apple's tools, because tvOS is its own world. That is already two apps to design, build, test and ship for three platforms. On top of that, Amazon now streams our Fire TV app to its new Vega OS sticks from the cloud, without us changing any code.

Roku apps are written in BrightScript, Roku's own scripting language, with screens built in SceneGraph, Roku's own interface framework. Neither is used anywhere outside Roku. None of our Android code runs there, none of our Apple TV code runs there, and none of the libraries we rely on exist there. The only thing that would carry over is our server, the part that sends prices and headlines to the app. Everything you actually see on screen would be written again from zero.

What a Roku version of MarketCast would actually take

It helps to list what MarketCast does, because each item is a project on a new platform:

• The Stream. Our main feature is a live market channel that cycles through your stocks, the indexes, movers and headlines, with a ticker tape running along the bottom. It is not a video file. It is drawn live on the TV from fresh data, scene by scene. That is the hardest part of the app on every platform, and on Roku we would rebuild it all.
• Charts, the stock detail screen, lists and the portfolio. All custom drawing and custom remote navigation.
• Adding stocks from your phone with a QR code, sign-in, settings, and syncing your lists.
• Billing for Premium. Roku's developer rules say apps that sell subscriptions or one-time purchases must use Roku Pay and meet its certification requirements. That would be our fourth store billing system, after Amazon, Google Play and Apple.
• Roku's certification. Roku tests apps before they are published in its store, with its own set of checks. Every update would go through that too.
• Testing. A new set of devices to buy, test on and keep working, across years of Roku models.

And then it does not end, because a second codebase is not a one-time cost. Every new feature we ship on Fire TV, Google TV and Apple TV would need to be built a third time. The realistic outcome for a small team is a Roku version that is always a few features behind and a little worse, and we do not want to put our name on that.

Why we picked Fire TV, Google TV and Apple TV

Not because they are better companies. Because of leverage. One Android app reaches two large platforms, Fire TV and Google TV, plus the many TVs from Sony, TCL, Hisense and others with Google TV built in. Apple TV costs a separate app, but it is the smoothest hardware we build for, and Apple's tools make a polished app realistic for a small team. And when Amazon started moving new sticks to Vega OS, its cloud program let our existing app follow, as we describe in what Vega OS means for your apps.

Roku is the one big platform where none of that leverage exists. Every hour there is an hour that does not go into making the Stream better for everyone already using it.

Is a Roku version of MarketCast ever coming?

We are not building one right now, and we would rather say that plainly than hint at a launch we cannot promise. We are also not saying never. Platforms change, our team can change, and the math changes with them. If we ever start building for Roku, it will be announced on our App News page first, not teased.

What we said about Roku in 2018

This is not a new position for us. In 2018 we wrote be careful buying Roku stock, from the point of view of a smart TV app developer. It argued that Amazon, Google and Apple would squeeze Roku, and that Roku's proprietary language made ambitious apps harder to build there than on other platforms. When we revisited it in 2026, our read was that the competition largely showed up the way we expected, and that the developer gap we described is still there. That piece is about the platform as a business. This one is about our app. Neither is investment advice.

How to get MarketCast on a Roku TV today

If you own a Roku TV, you do not need a new TV. You need a cheap stick in a spare HDMI port, and nearly every TV has more than one.

1. Pick a stick. A Google TV box like the Walmart onn 4K or the Google TV Streamer, a Fire TV Stick 4K Max, or an Apple TV 4K. We compare them, including which ones have enough memory for apps that run all day, in which streaming stick is actually fast.
2. Plug it into another HDMI port and into power. Use the wall adapter that comes with it if there is one; the TV's USB port does not always supply enough power.
3. Switch to that input. On a Roku TV, each HDMI input shows up as a tile on the home screen, so you can switch with the Roku remote. Leave the stick's remote next to it for navigating apps.
4. Install MarketCast from that device's app store. Our download page has the right link for each one.

If you have a Roku stick or box rather than a Roku TV, it is the same idea: plug the new device in where the Roku was, or into a second port and keep both.

What you get once it is running

Open MarketCast, scan the QR code with your phone to add your stocks, and put on the Stream, a live stock market channel for your TV that plays your stocks, the indexes, movers and headlines with a ticker tape along the bottom. The free version shows delayed prices and is supported by commercials and sponsors. Premium is the real-time data package: real-time prices, crypto around the clock, no commercials and Congress trades. Compare them on our plans page, and see every supported model on the devices page.