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How to Get Channel Pear Back on Your Roku


If you cut the cord to save money but miss your favorite cable channels, Channel Pear is here to help. The cloud-based streaming app offers live TV footage covering everything from MSNBC and CNN to ESPN and Cartoon Network—though it’s limited to just five channels unless you’re willing to pay for the service.

Roku recently removed Channel Pear from its devices last month, citing the questionable legality of the app. But if you’re not ready to quit using the service, there are a few different ways to get it back up and running on your Roku at home.

Watch Channel Pear on Roku With M3u Playlist Player

Channel Pear has an easy workaround of its own for getting the app back up and running on your Roku. All you have to do is download a separate app called M3u Playlist Player and then watch your livestream through that.

The first thing you’ll need to do it log into your Roku account in an internet browser. Then follow this link to download M3u Playlist Player and select Install. To launch the new app, pick up your Roku remote (or the app on your phone) and head into Settings and then System Update to check for updates. Once you’ve updated, the channel should appear on your Roku.

All that’s left is to sync your Channel Pear playlists with M3u Playlist Player. To do that, head to your online library, click on “pair” to open a dropdown menu, and select Roku. You’ll see a unique URL, which you should select and copy on your phone.

Next, launch the M3u Playlist Player on your Roku and hit New Playlist. Give your playlist a name (whatever you want is fine) and hit Next. Then, using the Roku app on your smartphone, copy your custom library URL into the text field. Relaunch M3u Playlist Player and you should be good to go.

I tried this one for myself and the entire process was quick and easy. Even if you’re using Channel Pear for the first time, it shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to get setup and start streaming on your Roku.

Use Plex to Watch Channel Pear On Your Roku

If you’re a fan of Plex, there’s another way to get Channel Pear back on your Roku. You’ll also need a Windows computer to use this method, which is outlined by The Streaming Advisor.

Before we get started, you’ll need to setup a free Plex account (if you haven’t already), install Plex Media Server and download WinRAR. Then, download Channel Pear for Plex and open the zip file with WinRAR.

From there, you’ll need to extract Channel Pear. Then change the file type by renaming it from “channelpear.bundle-master” to “channelpear.bundle” before installing it as a Plex plugin to finish the process.

I don’t have a PC at home so I wasn’t able to try this method for myself, but it seems pretty straightforward. If you’re struggling, The Streaming Advisor has a step-by-step guide with detailed images to help you through the process.