Roku’s new Howdy streaming service is ad-free at just $3 a month

It’s painfully clear by now that streaming is not going to fix the ills of cable TV — and, if anything, it’s only managed to introduce new headaches. At least back in the day you could just subscribe to your local provider and be reasonably assured you were getting everything you could. Now, staying on top of all the latest releases means juggling half a dozen different subscriptions, not to mention that your old favorites are liable to jump services at a moment’s notice. We wish this were building up to us announcing some novel solution, but nope — we’re just getting yet another streaming service.

Maybe the good news here is that this one sounds pretty low stakes. We’re talking about Howdy, a new subscription offering from Roku.

Let’s start with the good: Howdy will only cost you $3 a month, and even at that low price, Roku’s offering it ad-free. This isn’t an introductory deal or any kind of limited promo, and even with a price that matches the best we see from other streamers on Black Friday (and even then, usually with ad-supported plans), it sure sounds like Roku intends to keep Howdy this affordable going forward.

You can probably already see the flip side coming, and that’s the content. While Roku brands Howdy as offering “almost everything you want to watch,” it’s not launching with any real standout titles, instead offering a selection of shows and movies from the catalogs of Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, FilmRise, and of course some Roku Originals.

While there’s definitely some good stuff in there, and you can probably find something worth losing a few hours to, it’s also fair to say that Howdy’s lineup feels quite a bit weaker than its pricier peers. But like we said, this is low stakes, and it should easily be worth paying $3 for one month and seeing if Howdy’s for you. There’s no free trial or anything, but at this price, and with no long-term subscription commitment, who cares?

If you’re curious about checking Howdy out, the service is supported on Roku hardware, of course, or through the Roku app on your mobile device. If you’re the sort of viewer for whom Pluto feels “good enough” but you wouldn’t mind paying a small premium for no ads, Howdy could be right up your alley.