If your Roku device takes you to your home screen when you try to watch PBS videos, your router may be blocking the site PBS uses to run its promotions, doubleclick.net. The Roku will be unable to play any video in this situation, and shuts down the app.
To fix the problem, we recommend checking your router to see if your network is blocking the site doubleclick.net, and to allow an exemption for that site.
The instructions below demonstrate how to check the settings on a Netgear router but you can check on whatever router you have.
Find your router's username and password
F1.
- Depending on your router, the username and password to log into its control panel may be on the bottom (or side). Figure 1 illustrates where to find this information on a Netgear router.
- Your router may or may not be a Netgear like the above image, in which case the format will look different depending on what model it is. If you can’t find something like that on your router, look for its model name and number. In the photo above, it would be a Netgear N900, Model number: WNDR4500. The name is in the middle, and the model number is to the right of the green box.
Figure 1
- Once you’ve found the model name and number of your router, open a browser and go to www.google.com.
- Type “How to unblock sites on [model name, model number]” in the search textbox and search.
- Results should include the user name and password for your router model (the user names and passwords are universal for the router, unlike Wifi passwords, which you personalize).
Log into your router's control panel with the username and password2. L
- Once you've got your username and password, log into the router control panel by going to the website of the router’s control panel. Each router model has a different link. The link for your router can be found on the back or side of your router (in Figure 1 you can see the website http://www.routerlogin.net inside the green box). If it does not, it should be included in the results of the Google search, or you can do another search for “Control panel for [model name, model number].”
- Once you are on the router login website, you will be asked to enter your router user name and password.
- After you enter the name and password you will be directed to your router control panel. Look for an option to Unblock Websites, or an option named similarly. It may be behind an option for Security. Again, it depends on the router model, but it should be easy to find.
Unblock the site www.doubleclick.net
- Look for a site that says www.doubleclick.net and unblock it. Doubleclick is the site PBS uses to run advertisements on Roku. Unblocking it will allow your connection to access the site, letting the ads play, and then letting the videos play.
- If you don’t see that site, try unblocking all of the sites. You may want to write down which sites your router was trying and later try adding them back one by one to diminish the likelihood of security breaches.