Channel 4 app finally comes to Android TV

3 weeks ago 6

After years of annoying workarounds, limitations, and frustrations, the Channel 4 streaming app has finally come to Android TV.

Originally branded 4OD, the Channel 4 app has always been available for Android phones and tablets, but it was sorely missing on Android TV systems, which did not have a native application to stream content from the UK service.

To access Channel 4 content on a Chromecast or Android TV system, you would need to use third-party apps or utilize the Cast function from the mobile application. While this initially worked well and was a great stop-gap, over the past few years, casting from the Channel 4 application has become rife with problems, disconnects, and overall a bad experience.

The only dedicated app for TV systems has been limited to Amazon Fire TV devices. Because Fire TV hardware runs a forked version of Android, this native application is technically a fully-fledged Android TV application, but with no way to get via the Google Play Store. Sideloading is possible, but it’s fraught with issues and incompatibility.

Over the past few days, the Channel 4 application has quietly been added to the library of applications that you can install on Android and Google TV devices, such as Chromecast, Google TV Streamer, Nvidia Shield TV, and many more. The UI is identical to the app on Kindle Fire TV devices, hinting that this is simply a clean port. You can stream live content where available, making it easier to tune into live events and content.

What’s interesting is that when opening the application on my Google TV Streamer, the framerate dipped to the European 50Hz standard rather than the 60Hz of my TV and Android TV system. This is likely to conform with UK broadcast standards – where 25fps is favored by UK networks. The Channel 4 support pages also have no mention of Android TV at this early stage.

Channel 4 is still missing from the new “Channels” panel, but this change means that it could join the section in the coming weeks now that there is a native application to stream from. So, yes, we finally have an official Channel 4 application for Android TV and Google TV devices. You can download it directly to your devices via the Google Play Store.

Thanks Ben!