A recently proposed class action lawsuit (PDF) claims Roku and TCL released software updates that made televisions glitchy or stop working entirely. 

The suit alleges the companies have released software updates that are "repetitively defective, materially impairing the functionality of Roku products." In other words, the companies brick their own televisions by "failing to ensure that the software updates are actually free of defects both in testing stages and at scale."

The complaint said the companies also failed to fix these mistakes, leaving customers' TVs inoperable.

The suit specifically lists Roku Select Series, Roku Plus Series and TCL 3, 4, 5 and 6-Series models that run on Roku OS.

The plaintiff, Terri Else, filed the suit in the US District Court for the Central District of California. Else said she purchased a TCL Roku TV from a major retailer in 2018. Only a few years later, the TV began malfunctioning, flashing a white light before turning black and refusing to display any images, Else says. By January 2023, she says, the TV stopped working altogether -- and TCL refused to cover the software defects under its warranty.

Else purchased a replacement TV but says it, too, was unusable within a year, showing only a black screen while audio functioned normally.

A Roku spokesperson told CNET, "We believe the claims are meritless." A representative for TCL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is not the only recent lawsuit alleging that streaming devices are dying due to planned obsolescence. In April, a similar complaint was lodged with the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, claiming that Amazon intentionally bricked Fire TV devices "before the expiration of their useful life."

A paper trail of previous complaints

A large number of American households have a TV that runs on Roku OS. According to the complaint, more than 90 million US households have at least one Roku device. That accounts for "almost half of broadband households in the United States."

Else's filing alleges that Roku and TCL are aware of the software defects, as the companies' websites include FAQs to help troubleshoot bugs introduced by updates, and the Roku Community forum contains a wide range of customer complaints.

Similar complaints can be found on other social media sites like Reddit and X. The lawsuit cites several specific posts that support Else's experience, including instances of FAQ troubleshooting failures, multiple display failures from the same TV and warranty replacement refusals from the company.

The proposed class action would be open to anyone who resides in the US and who purchased Roku TV products manufactured by Roku or TCL anytime after Dec. 16, 2024.