Roku Just Launched a New Basketball Channel for Fans

Roku is expanding its offerings for sports fans, introducing a new basketball-centric channel on Wednesday.

The channel, named the WNBA Zone, will provide fans with a centralized hub to find scores, highlights and other league news. It comes just in time for the start of the 2026 WNBA season this weekend.

“We saw firsthand how hungry audiences are for women’s sports, when we launched the Women’s Sports Zone. Now we’re leaning further in,” said Joe Franzetta, Roku's head of sports, in a press release. “As the WNBA enters its 30th season, with new media partners, an historic CBA, and tremendous momentum on several fronts, the energy around the sport right now is incredible. This partnership with the WNBA is about making it easier than ever for fans to dive into the league’s entire ecosystem and catch every big moment in one place.”

WNBA Zone: How does it work?

The WNBA Zone is designed to make life easier for streamers "by surfacing live games as they happen, while automatically prioritizing watch options based on a user’s subscriptions."

Viewers can find out where games are being broadcast nationally and can also mark their favorite team in order to receive reminders when games are happening, as well as personalized highlights and clips.

Additionally, fans can subscribe to WNBA League Pass within the WNBA App located in the Zone, doing so via Roku Pay or their Roku account.

WNBA chief growth officer Colie Edison says the partnership with Roku "builds on our ongoing efforts to bring fans closer to the game by simplifying how they discover and experience WNBA content.”

WNBA season set to tip off

The 2026 WNBA season, the 30th in the league's existence, will get underway Friday night with a trio of games.

The Connecticut Sun will take on the New York Liberty at 7:30 p.m. ET, while the Washington Wizards and expansion Toronto Tempo will also meet at the same time. In the nightcap, the Golden State Valkyries and Seattle Storm face off at 10 p.m. ET; all three of these matchups will be broadcast on ION.

On Saturday, the league begins its ABC/ESPN slate, with the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings playing at 1 p.m. ET followed by the Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces at 3:30 p.m. ET. Both games are on ABC and Disney+.

At night, the Atlanta Dream and Minnesota Wild will battle at 8 p.m. ET, and the Chicago Sky and expansion Portland Fire will tip off at 9 p.m. ET, with the latter matchup on NBATV.

The weekend concludes with four more contests on Sunday, including the Los Angeles Sparks, the last team to open the season, against the Aces at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.