Plex Starts Paywalling Remote Streaming To Tvs, Beginning With Its Roku App

Here's immoderate bad news for folks who've been utilizing Plex to watercourse worldly from a buddy's individual media server to their TV for free for years. As it pledged to do earlier this twelvemonth erstwhile it bumped up nan value of nan Plex Pass, nan work is starting to enforce a paywall for distant streaming from a individual server to TV apps. Plex is rolling retired nan alteration connected its Roku app this week, followed by its different TV apps (on nan likes of Fire TV, Apple TV and Android TV) and third-party clients that usage its distant streaming API successful 2026. Plex besides precocious started deploying a redesigned version of its app connected Roku-powered TVs.

Under nan caller measurement of things, nan proprietor of a media server needs a Plex Pass subscription to assistance different group distant entree to it done nan service. A Plex Pass now costs $7 per month, $70 per twelvemonth aliases $250 for a life membership. Those pinch specified a subscription (or nan Remote Watch Pass for $2 per period aliases $20 per year) tin remotely entree personification else's media server, moreover if nan server proprietor doesn't person Plex Pass. Plex started enforcing nan alteration connected mobile devices earlier doing truthful elsewhere.

It ever stinks erstwhile a institution puts up a paywall astir a characteristic that was antecedently free. Plex needs to make money to support things running, which is adjacent enough. But turning free features into paid ones is hardly a consumer-friendly approach, particularly erstwhile location are open-source alternatives for illustration Jellyfin around.