Roku has quietly introduced a tech policy change that will result in the expulsion of Pornhub channels and other adult/sex-themed outlets from its platform. 

Roku is essentially doing away with so-called "private channels," which had been used by developers to test their Roku channels before taking them live. These channels don't exist within the Roku Channel Store. But they can be found and activated by Roku users with a code or direct link via Roku's website.

Purveyors of porn content, including the popular Pornhub, have been using private channels--aka "uncertified channels"--to create their own channels on the top connected TV device platform. 

On March 1, 2022, the private channels will disappear from Roku's platform, replaced by a new tool for developers called "beta channels," which will allow the software makers to test out their wares with groups of 20 users or less. (The new Independent Developers Kit was introduced last week at Roku's annual developers conference and first reported on by Protocol.)

In a statement released Wednesday, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) called Roku’s policy change a “victory for survivors of sexual exploitation.

“Roku’s decision to remove Pornhub and other exploitative pornography channels from its platform is a move that we and other international anti-exploitation groups and survivors have been calling on the company to make for years. No company should profit from child sexual abuse, rape, sex trafficking and other exploitive content on its platform and we are glad Roku is finally shutting down its partnership with Pornhub and the entire exploitation industry,” said NCOSE CEO Dawn Hawkins.

The official end of the fall-winter television season typically leads to a quieter, lighter summer for the industry. Thus far this year, though, events outside of the normal day-to-day business of TV have been anything but normal, and a couple of recent industry-related stories are already beginning to forecast what could be a very interesting and unusually busy summer in the world of television.

The presidential primary season has delivered its share of crazy twists and turns and unlikely scenarios that have driven ratings up for virtually all cable news networks. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger or more unpredictable, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders contemplated debating each other in a very high-profile event.

Hoping to get in on the action, boxing promoter Bob Arum looked to bring the spectacle to pay-per-view. Arum’s Top Rank event promotion company was willing to put up a minimum of $20 million — as well as donate 80% of the net proceeds from “The Heavyweight Debate” between the two presidential hopefuls to a charity or charities of the candidates’ choice — in an effort to promote the show.

Trump ultimately backed out of the proposed debate prior to Memorial Day weekend, but given his penchant for creating media spectacles, can anyone rule out a potentially big, politically-themed PPV event before voters head to the polls in November?

Meanwhile, HBO’s Game of Thrones is one of the most digitally pirated shows on cable, but recently the pay TV service has taken its GoT digital piracy fight to the world of online pornography.

HBO is trying to curtail the uploading of titillating, nudity-laced scenes from its fantasy series to the adult Web service PornHub, according to published reports.

PornHub itself released audience figures that show site searches for GoT scenes and related adult parodies were up 370% on the site in the days prior to the show’s April 24 season six premiere, but the site’s traffic actually drops 4% during a Game of Thrones episode.

For its part, HBO has said in a statement that it is “aware of the issue and is in the process of getting material taken down from PornHub,” according to Business Insider.

Even the world of sports TV isn’t immune to the potential effects of unforeseen developments. The New York Daily News reported last week that some NBC employees are refusing to travel to Brazil to work on NBCUniversal’s massive coverage of the Summer Olympics this August for fears of contracting the dangerous, mosquito-borne Zika virus.

Brazil is struggling to control the spread of the virus, which has been linked to birth defects in children of pregnant women contracting the disease. NBC is expected to send more than 2,000 staffers to Brazil to oversee the company’s unprecedented linear and digital coverage of the games.

An NBC spokesperson told The Daily News that “the safety of our team members is always our first priority,” and that “no NBC personnel assigned to work in Rio will be required to travel if they believe that their personal health or safety is at risk.”

Fasten your seat belts. It could be a bumpy, unconventional summer in TV land.